Hi, again. Just a best practices question: the author of the book I am remediating has inserted attribution links in the Alt Text of almost all images and in the caption there are links that say “click here to enlarge”.
I am not sure attribution links in alt text help with accessibility. Should I move the attribution links in the captions? Do I keep the “click here to enlarge” link?
What do you guys think? Thank you in advance.
Hi @Andreea! Feel free to tag me in future accessibility questions, that way I will get a notification and help out if I can.
Alt tags and Attributions
Attribution information should not be in the alt tag. Not only does attribution info not describe images, but putting it there means that people not using a screen reader will not be able to access the attribution info. In addition, attributions often require linking back to the source, which is not possible in the alt tag.
I would also recommend not putting attributions in captions, as that can be distracting. Instead, I would recommend using the Media Attribution tool available in Pressbooks which will automatically format attribution statements and insert them at the end of the chapter. (see this chapter on Media Attributions or watch the video tutorial embedded at the end of the chapter) for assistance with using this tool.
Alternatively, you could make a list of attribution statements yourself at the end of your chapter.
"Click to enlarge" link
I am less sure about this option. Pressbooks allows you to link images to media files. If images are set up this way, the image will expand in the browser when clicked, which eliminates the need for a link in the caption.
However, neither the “click to enlarge” option nor the linked media file will work for people using the print copy of the book. So it may be a good idea to provide a full web address somewhere so people using the print copy can look up a full size image if necessary. For more info on this, see the Accessibility Toolkit’s chapter on Links under the heading “Provide web addresses for print users.”
Let me know if you have more questions or need clarification on anything. I can easily provide examples or additional resources if needed.