Twitter testing image description
Twitter is testing some upgrades to its image alt-text descriptions for vision-impaired users, with a new ‘ALT’ badge being added to images where alternative text descriptions are available, and an expanded description window to make them more accessible.
The new option will put a focus on alt-text , with a mini-window opening up when you tap the ‘ALT’ indicator badge. The updated display would make alt-text descriptions much easier to use, and would likely improve its usability to more users.
Adding image descriptions allows people who are blind, have low vision, use assistive tech, live in low-bandwidth areas, or have a cognitive disability, to fully contribute on Twitter.
The description can range anywhere from one to one thousand characters in length. If you add multiple images to a tweet you can add unique descriptions to each of them. This feature is still in testing, so you may not have access to it right now.
“If you’re part of the 3pc of people who have access to the features, the Alt badge will appear on other users’ images that have a description added. Select the Alt badge and the image description will open,” Twitter Accessibility wrote in another tweet. If you find yourself seeing this option available to you, test the feature out, give feedback to Twitter and help mould the future of Twitter’s accessiblility.
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