Improving Alt Text Quality on VA.gov

CHALLENGE

VA.gov depends on content editors with varying levels of accessibility knowledge and experience. While some editors were comfortable writing alternative text, or alt text, others were unsure what made a description useful for someone navigating the site with a screen reader.
 

An audit of alt text in the Drupal content management system found several recurring issues. Descriptions were sometimes too long, included file names or extensions, or used unnecessary phrases such as “image of” and “photo of.”

We wanted to understand what made writing effective alt text difficult and whether clearer guidance within the publishing workflow could help editors improve it.
 

PROJECT TIMELINE

May to June 2023
 

MY ROLE

I led the research from planning through delivery. This included recruiting and scheduling participants, conducting interviews and usability tests, analyzing the findings, and presenting recommendations to the product team.

RESEARCH METHODS

Semi-structured interviews and moderated usability testing

 

BACKGROUND

Alt text communicates the meaning or purpose of an image to people who cannot see it. Writing it well requires editors to consider the image’s context, describe only what is relevant, and avoid information that a screen reader already provides.

The existing image-upload workflow included brief instructions, but it did not tell editors when their alt text might conflict with common accessibility guidelines.

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The team designed a prototype that added more specific feedback to the workflow. When an editor entered potentially problematic alt text, the prototype explained what might be wrong and how to improve it.

 

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The study explored four main areas:

• What did editors already know about writing alt text, and where did they look for help?

• What challenges affected their confidence and ability to write useful descriptions?

• Did the prototype’s guidance and error messages make sense and provide enough information to act?

• Did the proposed workflow make writing higher-quality alt text feel easier and better supported?

 

APPROACH

We conducted 45- to 60-minute moderated sessions over Zoom.

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Participants first completed an image-upload task in the VA.gov Drupal training environment. They added alt text while thinking aloud about what they understood, where they felt uncertain, and what guidance they used.

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They then completed a similar task using a clickable prototype. The prototype provided specific feedback when alt text exceeded the recommended length, included an image file name, or used redundant wording such as “image of.”

After completing both tasks, participants compared the experiences and discussed which one better supported them, what remained confusing, and what they would change.

 

OUTCOME

Participants responded positively to the more specific guidance provided in the prototype and felt it offered stronger support than the existing workflow.

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The research gave the team enough confidence to move forward with the design. The enhancement was released to production in January 2024, giving editors clearer feedback as they created alt text.

 

MEASURING IMPACT

Working with a Drupal developer, we added logging that allowed the team to track:

• How often editors encountered each type of alt text warning

• Which accessibility guidelines were most commonly missed

• How editors revised their descriptions after receiving feedback

This gave the team a way to evaluate the feature after launch and identify where editors might need additional guidance.