Twitter Now Lets You Add Alt Text To Photos, For The Visually Impaired

For most of us, seeing a picture in our Facebook or Twitter feed isn't anything special. We glance at it quickly, and move on. However, for those who are visually impaired, knowing that there is an image attached to a post can be frustrating. Unless the caption is very specific, they're not going to have any idea what that picture contains. Twitter will soon offer a way to assist those who might not be able to properly see the images you post.

The idea behind Twitter's new feature is one that's been around for ages. Once the feature is enabled, you'll simply add a description to your photos, in the form of alt text. As the example image above shows, you'll want to describe the main points of your photo, with the idea that they'll be read by someone who can't see it.

When someone using an alternative Twitter app that's specifically designed for the visually impaired, the description will be be made available either audibly, or in braille.

If you want to start adding alt text to your images, you'll first need to go into Twitter's accessibility options. Find the one that says "compose image descriptions" and enable it. You'll then see the new "Add description" button after adding an image to your tweets, moving forward. The option should already be available in the latest versions of both the iOS and Android apps.

Source: Twitter