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What's the best way to write about famous places in an image description? (self.Blind)
submitted by PA-AL
I have a job managing social media at a place where a lot of the posts tend to be about famous locations and monuments. The other day I was writing an image description for an Instagram post about Blackpool Tower and realised that I didn't know whether it would be better to tag the image as "Image of Blackpool Tower" or "Image of a large tower constructed of red iron".
I was initially leaning towards the second option as it's more descriptive, but then I realised that it doesn't necessarily indicate that the 'large tower' is actually 'Blackpool Tower'.
What's the most helpful way of doing this?
I was initially leaning towards the second option as it's more descriptive, but then I realised that it doesn't necessarily indicate that the 'large tower' is actually 'Blackpool Tower'.
What's the most helpful way of doing this?
nkdeck07 8 points 3y ago
Both are wrong, should be "Blackpool Tower, which is a large tower constructed of red iron" to provide the most context for those that know about blackpool tower and those that don't.
BigRonnieRon 5 points 3y ago
**Don't write "Image of"**, ever. Google "alt tags" or just pull up the WCAG2.1
There's a whole huge ballpark of acceptable. I'd write, "**Blackpool Tower, large red iron tower**". Unless "red iron" is a specific thing, which I don't think it is, but IDK.
People either do nothing, write too little or get Dickensian. I saw some idiot the other day wrote what type of sunscreen he had on and what color roses in the background of his selfie were. People read this stuff. If it's too long, it's annoying. If it's too short (web devs do this mostly, and write 2 words with commas or something), it's insufficiently descriptive.
If you had to give directions and in doing so needed to give a very, very brief description to a tourist in a rush, what would you say? Pretty much that.
It's different with art and such or something with specific attention to some detail like a diagram or something, but for the most part this is how you write alt tags.
There's a whole huge ballpark of acceptable. I'd write, "**Blackpool Tower, large red iron tower**". Unless "red iron" is a specific thing, which I don't think it is, but IDK.
People either do nothing, write too little or get Dickensian. I saw some idiot the other day wrote what type of sunscreen he had on and what color roses in the background of his selfie were. People read this stuff. If it's too long, it's annoying. If it's too short (web devs do this mostly, and write 2 words with commas or something), it's insufficiently descriptive.
If you had to give directions and in doing so needed to give a very, very brief description to a tourist in a rush, what would you say? Pretty much that.
It's different with art and such or something with specific attention to some detail like a diagram or something, but for the most part this is how you write alt tags.
CloudyBeep 1 points 3y ago
The WebAim guidelines for writing Alt text address this problem and many others. You should read them.
Ash-and-co 1 points 3y ago
Thanks for asking! I have no experience with writing descriptions, but my favorite descriptions are usually 1 sentence with a few details of the place including the name. Hope this helps.
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