How to make images accessible for people
When you Tweet photos using the Twitter app for iOS or Android, or on twitter.com, you have the option to compose a description of the images so the content is accessible to more people, including those who are blind or low-vision.
Good image descriptions are concise and descriptive, helping people understand what’s happening in an image.
This article includes instructions for composing image descriptions using:
Using VoiceOver for Mac with twitter.com
How to add image descriptions in Tweets from twitter.com
- Open the Tweet composer using the keyboard shortcut (press the “n” key).
- Use the “tab” key to navigate to the Add photos or video button and press “enter”.
- Use the file system dialog to choose the image to add.
- In the composer, find the image you've added using the “tab” key. The image will be labeled according to the order in which it was added (e.g. "Image 1").
- To insert descriptive text, open the thumbnail preview dialog by pressing the “enter” key while focused on the image.
- Type your description of the image. (The limit is 1000 characters.)
- Find the Done button by pressing the “tab” key and press “enter”, or just press “enter” while holding down the “command” key.
- To edit the description, re-open the thumbnail preview dialog prior to posting the Tweet.
Using the JAWS for Windows screen reader with twitter.com
How to add image descriptions in Tweets from twitter.com
- Press the “insert” and “3” keys together to temporarily bypass JAWS' virtual navigation.
- Open the Tweet composer using the keyboard shortcut (press the “n” key).
- Use the “tab” key to navigate to the Add photos or video button and press “enter”.
- Use the file system dialog to choose the image to add.
- In the composer, find the image you've added using the “tab” key. The image will be labeled according to the order in which it was added (e.g. "Image 1").
- To insert descriptive text, open the thumbnail preview dialog by pressing the “enter” key while focused on the image.
- Type your description of the image. (The limit is 1000 characters.)
- Find the Done button by pressing the “tab” key and press “enter”, or just press “enter” while holding down the “control” key.
- To edit the description, re-open the thumbnail preview dialog prior to posting the Tweet.
Using the NVDA screen reader for Windows with twitter.com
How to add image descriptions in Tweets from twitter.com
- Press “insert” and Space keys together to enter forms mode.
- Open the Tweet composer using the keyboard shortcut (press the n key).
- Use the “tab” key to navigate to the Add photos or video button and press “enter”.
- Use the file system dialog to choose the image to add.
- In the composer, find the image you've added using the “tab” key. The image will be labeled according to the order in which it was added (e.g. "Image 1").
- To insert descriptive text, open the thumbnail preview dialog by pressing the “enter” key while focused on the image.
- Type your description of the image. (The limit is 1000 characters.)
- Find the Done button by pressing the “tab” key and press “enter”, or just press “enter” while holding down the “control” key.
- To edit the description, re-open the thumbnail preview dialog prior to posting the Tweet.
Note: Once posted, the description applied to the image won't be visible but visually impaired people will have access to the description via their assistive technology (e.g., screen readers and braille displays).