How to use Twitter's new and improved alt text tools

Twitter has addressed a long-awaited accessibility fix this week with its new and improved alternative text tools for users with and without disabilities.

The rollout hopes to make it more obvious to all users that accessible image descriptions are present, including an automatic, public badge on all tweets containing images with alt text — you'll now see a small black icon with the acronym "ALT" in the bottom left corner of an image. After tapping on the badge, users can view exposed image descriptions that can be read without the use of a screen reader, the tried and true "inspect element," or other adaptive tools.

Previously, it wasn't clear if an image had alt text on the user-facing side of the website, only visible to users of assistive tools. The change makes it so everyone can see descriptions, which means more people are able to engage with the millions of images and GIF's posted to Twitter. It'll hopefully encourage more people make their own profiles accessible, as well.

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Twitter announced that it was working on the feature in early March, using the last month to beta test the tools with select users. The official update rolled out globally on April 7. Users have asked for better image descriptions for years — the social media company added alt text for website images in 2016 and TweetDeck in 2018, and it's slowly improved other accessibility features since, eventually creating a dedicated accessibility team in 2020. Alt text joins other Twitter accessibility features like live automated captions for videos and voice tweets, as well as visual settings like high contrast and font size.

According to the feature's initial announcement, Twitter is also working on an automatic reminder for app 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 company tweeted. "We know these features have been a long time coming, and we're grateful for your patience."

How to use the new features

The alt text badge and public descriptions are automatically available to users, so you don't need to do anything to your account to interact with the new tools — just make sure your app is up-to-date.

There is one barrier to usability: individual users have to have the due diligence to add alt text to every post with an image or GIF they make.

Adding image or GIF descriptions to your own tweets

First, click the compose tweet button and draft your post with your preferred media, whether that's an image or a GIF (videos posted to Twitter are currently auto-captioned).

For mobile users: Once added, click on the small, black circle in the bottom right corner with the "ALT" tag.

For desktop users: Select "Add Description" below the image. Or, click on the "Edit" button on the bottom right of the photo, and then go to the "alt text" section.

For desktop users, select "add descriptions" or "edit" to add descriptions Credit: Twitter

Select the black "alt" badge in the bottom right corner to add descriptions. Credit: Twitter

If this is your first time using the feature, Twitter will prompt you with a brief description of image descriptions. Hit "Sure" and you'll be taken to the alt text edit window.

For first time alt text users, Twitter has a helpful guide. Credit: Twitter

Add an image description that can be read by all users. Credit: Twitter

Here you can write an image description up to 1,000 characters. Twitter has its own guide to writing in-app image descriptions, or check out Mashable's tips to writing alt text if you're unsure what to write. Think about who your audience is, what's essential to the photo, or (especially if it's part of a meme or Twitter trend) what users need to know from your picture or GIF to be in on the joke.

Image descriptions can be added through mobile or desktop. Credit: Twitter

Once you're satisfied, hit "done" and post your tweet. That's it! You should immediately see the alt text badge on the lower left of your image and be able to read the description in full.

While users learn to use the new tools, some are taking the opportunity to report other accessibility issues on Twitter on top of their concerns with the new feature — many have pointed out that buttons on the company's blog post are unlabeled and reportedly inaccessible to screen readers, and a few have expressed the confusing nature of autogenerated alt text for GIFs versus user-generated alt text. Others acknowledged that users can't retroactively add alt text to tweets that have already been posted — hopefully that can be addressed in Twitter's expected "Edit Tweet" upgrade.

The app's update is far from perfect. But making alt text descriptions more publicly accessible — and encouraging all users to use and interact with these accessibility tools — is a significant move towards making the internet a universally accessible place. Now it's up to all of us to use the tool productively and support the needs of other users who rely on the features.