Alt text character limit
Hi all,
I have noticed that when adding alt text to an image when uploading the alt text limit is 200 characters. However, when adding alt text to an existing image, there does not appear to be a character limit? Is this a bug? Is there a reason for this? While alt text should be succinct, I don't think 200 is a useful limit. Thoughts?
Best Answer
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Hi. I apologize for the delay. I tried to reply yesterday, but something went wrong.
We have set a 200-character limit for uploading alt text in the Brightspace HTML Editor because keeping alt text brief is a best practice and practically useful to screen reader users. The workaround for rare cases where it is necessary to have 201 characters or more is to edit the image after upload.
A screen-reader will not cut off alt text but long alt texts get cumbersome as sometimes it is read in one go and it's hard break it into pieces. 100 to 125 characters is a good limit to aim for. If the image is complicated, longer descriptions might likely be useful even to those who are sighted. Weave them into the surrounding text. Or add a link below the image to a document or another page with the longer description. I hope this helps.
Answers
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Hi Carin,
Thank you for your response. I agree with you and your methods for including descriptions of complex images. Thank you for clearing up the differences.
Thanks,
Luke