Twitter Tests Alt-Text Changes to Make Platform More Accessible

March 10, 2022

Twitter is trialling new features to make image descriptions easier to access for people who are blind or have low vision.

One of the features is a public Alt badge that users can click on to reveal an image description on the platform. Alt is a reference to alternative or alt text, which is useful for users who are blind, have low vision, those who use assistive technologies or have cognitive disabilities.

The other feature will expose some of the image description below the image, indicating to users that an image description is available. Twitter said it is also working on a feature that will remind users uploading images to add image descriptions.

Announced yesterday (9 March), the features will initially be available to around 3pc of Twitter users on Android, iOS and the web. After a month of gathering feedback and working on bug fixes, Twitter expects to launch the features for all users in April.

Source: Silicon Republic