Adding Alt Text

Luckily, Canvas makes it easy to add alt text - prompting you to add it when you first upload your image.

Uploading from Images Tab

If you upload an image from the Images tab when in edit mode, you must add alt text or mark the image as decorative in order for the image to be loaded to the page. (Marking an image as decorative means that assistive technology will not announce that an image is present.)

screen shot of image upload pane in Canvas with arrow pointing to alt text field

Uploading/Importing Images from Rich Content Editor

When adding an image through the image icon in the rich content editor, you are not forced to add alt text, but you can easily add alt text in the process.

screen shot demonstrating steps to add alt text to image from rich content editor

Adding Alt Text to Existing Images

If you're adding alt text to exiting images, click on the image, then click on the image editor icon in the rich content editor to access the alt text field.

screen cast showing how to add alt text using the rich content editor in Canvas

Add Alt Text Through Ally

All but a couple of the Washington CTCs has Ally for Canvas. Ally will flag image files that are missing alt text with a red meter (Ally does not scan images that are imported through Flickr or pasted from a browser - it only scans files that have uploaded).

You can click on the meter to be guided through the process of adding alt text to your image.

screen cast demonstrating steps to add alt text through Ally