Inconsistent GDS guidance on ALT text

[abbott567]

In the Design System guidance on images it covers alt text. The examples show you an example of using the alt attribute to describe the image. For example:

<img src="larry-the-cat.jpg" alt="Larry the cat, Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office, sitting on a meeting table wearing a Union Jack bowtie.">

This guidance does not align with the recently updated GDS guidance on alt text in the Content Design guidance on GOV.UK. In this guidance it says best-practice is to use an empty alt attribute on all images and describe the image in the body copy. For example:

Describe what’s happening in the image in the body text and leave the ‘Alt text’ field empty. This means the description is available to everyone.

The GDS guidance on alt text should be aligned so other teams and departments do not get confused.

[EoinShaughnessy]

@abbott567 Thanks for flagging this! Will see if we can align.

[joelanman]

I think we need to clarify our guidance, but just wondering if the content guidance for GOV.UK Publisher might be different to other services. For example if you use an icon in your service, it might help to add alt text. A different context to the content published on GOV.UK publishing.

[abbott567]

Yeah good point @joelanman - I think the example in the design system at the moment with Larry the cat could be aligned, and then additional guidance around icons would make it much more specific.

[joelanman]

just a quick update to say this might take a bit longer as we discuss more widely with the accessibility community at GDS. The two areas of guidance (GOV.UK Publishing and the Design System) are run by different teams

[joelanman]

We met with the accessibility community and confirmed that the Content Guidance in the original post is specifically for people using GOV.UK Publisher. We'll continue to look into clarifying our guidance in the Design System.

We're looking for examples of images in services (any kind of image) so if anyone knows any, please add to the thread!

[jbuller]

A common example is the rendering of an uploaded photo, either of a person or a document etc.
In these cases the alt needs to be there to reassure that the upload worked but be generic as we can't know what it depicts.

[joelanman]

@jbuller thats a great example thanks!

[EoinShaughnessy]

A DVSA friend mentioned the image on their Tyre defects and damage page.

It shows a metal probe against a red cloth(?) background, and its alt text is "Tyre probe".

[EoinShaughnessy]

The Accessibility team gave us some really good feedback about the Design System guidance:

It says:
"Do not:
• include the name of the photographer or person who created the image
• start with ‘Image of’, ‘Graphic of’ or ‘Photo of’
• repeat information from the page
• include extra information not in the image"

My concern there is that that could be interpreted as that as long as you include alt text you don’t need it described in any other form which makes me wonder if that might exclude people.
Though this might be coming from a purely GOV.UK content point of view
The other thing is, as much as I am a cat person and love the use of Larry as an example, wouldn’t that photo only ever be used as a decorative one?

We should also consider advising users to describe the image in the body text (in addition to using alt text):

I think you do need to add something about describing it in the body text. Not sure if it would be helpful to add the reason why but that wouldn’t be a bad idea either
a more relevant example would be helpful especially for those people who are a bit confused by our two differing guidances…..

[EoinShaughnessy]

@christopherthomasdesign Wondering about potential first steps towards replacing the example image in the Design System's alt text guidance...should we look in other services for a good, non-decorative, 'real-world' example?

[EoinShaughnessy]

Some more examples, provided by the Accessibility team, from Web Accessibility Tutorials content on informative images:

[EoinShaughnessy]

The Product Safety Database contains images uploaded by the service's own users (trading standards officers).

The Dept for Education's service also contains some images with alt text.

And another service where images are important: View the orphan works register.

Big thanks to @frankieroberto for sourcing these examples!

[EoinShaughnessy]

Some feedback from cross-gov Slack:

I think there's potentially merit in the idea that it's better to avoid alt text (empty string) altogether and describe the images in visible text instead - that way more people can benefit from it, and it might also be less likely to be forgotten or poor quality.

[EoinShaughnessy]

DfE marketing/campaign site with images and alt text

[selfthinker]

While you're working on alt text guidance, please also check my comments on the generic "Images" GitHub issue: alphagov/govuk-design-system-backlog#70 (comment)

[EoinShaughnessy]

@selfthinker Will do, thanks!

[joelanman]

Found an image on Vehicle Tax service:
https://vehicletax.service.gov.uk/

there's a question "Do you have a V11 reminder letter printed in your name?" and then a small image of the letter. The alt is "Image of V11 Reminder Letter".

I think the image is to help people find the letter. I wonder if the alt would help blind people know an image exists so they can get help finding the letter if they need it?

[joelanman]

we could also link to the w3c image alt decision tree

Edit: we already do! Ignore me

[selfthinker]

we could also link to the w3c image alt decision tree

You already do that (on https://design-system.service.gov.uk/styles/images/).

[EoinShaughnessy]

This issue was originally about a discrepancy between Design System guidance and 'publishers' guidance. In some cases, Design System advises using the alt attribute. 'Publishers' advises leaving this attribute empty. We wondered whether leaving it empty might exclude users of screen readers, because then they would be left unaware there was an image on a page. However, there have been no reports of users experiencing this issue.

As we looked into alt text more, the issue's scope widened. We realised that Design System's guidance possibly needed revision. For example, because its current image is an unlikely example of what a service would actually use. However, our research into images on government services failed to turn up any appropriate images we could use instead.

Following discussion with the Accessibility Team's content designer, we've agreed for now to update our respective pieces of guidance to specify who the guidance is for. Hopefully that will address the original issue. I'll also update the Design System guidance with a link to the 'publishers' guidance. Hopefully this will help redirect any users who accidentally land in the Design System.

When a new accessibility specialist joins and has bandwidth to define the best way to use alt text, we can also revisit the Design System guidance. To make sure we do this, I'll create a new issue and link it to this one, so we've preserved everyone's feedback - for example, on the different techniques for adding images.

[abbott567]

Thanks for the update @EoinShaughnessy - We've just changed the alt text guidance in our accessibility manual to also differentiate between GOV.UK Publishing and Service Teams, based on a content review by GDS. So it sounds like it should all hopefully align with those changes. Thanks for persevering with this issue!

[EoinShaughnessy]

Cheers @abbott567, and thanks for the heads up about the manual update!