ACCESSIBLE BANNER ADS: Don’t Forget the Alt Text

Cartoon of human hand holding a megaphone reaching out from a cellphone screen

If you are not prepending the word “Ad” or “Advertisement” at the beginning of the Alt text value in your banner image call code, you are losing business.

Why?

Folks who use screen readers that convert text-to-voice need to be alerted that they are accessing an advertisement…as well as the sales offer and call-to-action instruction so they can buy.

Example

<img src=”banner.jpg” alt=”Advertisement – Click here to purchase the latest Samsung Galaxy Smartphone for 40% off – Buy before Sept 16 2019″>

This satisfies the WCAG 2.1 – 1.1.1 Non-text Content Guideline:

“All non-text content that is presented to the user has a text alternative that serves the equivalent purpose…(Level A)”

Tip: Most screen readers cut off alt text if the content is too long. Best to keep the alt text value character count to 125 characters (including spaces) or less.

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