From our Authors and Editors:
"When I first thought about doing alt text, I thought it would be really cumbersome. Actually, writing the alt text made me greatly appreciate the challenges some individuals may face interpreting technical diagrams. I think it has made me think a lot more about how to draw figures that are easier to understand and explain to others! It's great to work with a publisher and editors who value accessibility in technical writing."
"We can think about the preparation of Alt text as writing the recipe in a cookbook. If we only have the picture of the finished meal, then we will not know what the meal represents or how to prepare it. Have you ever tried searching for a picture in your camera gallery but couldn't find it? Alt text helps pictures to become searchable. As we know, a picture is worth a thousand words but if we can't find it when we're doing a search, then it doesn't exist. The use of Alt text helps to add that extra element to your book. It allows your figures to become searchable and helps in its promotion. The preparation of Alt text was very interesting when writing my book and now I see its use in other social media platforms and on websites. I'm very grateful to have placed alt text into my book."
"We found doing the Alt Text for our book was straightforward. It was a good discipline to simply describe the illustration. I'm glad we did it."
"Initially, I was opposed to doing Alt-Text, but once I realized how easy and useful it could be, I was sold on the idea. I like the fact that Alt-Text (Alternative-Text) is useful for reaching people with disabilities. Further, doing Alt-Text forces me to think and rationalize about the images I am including in my manuscript, which is a good thing."
"I have written and edited figure captions for more than a decade for authors across industries, but it never occurred to me how much meaning and content can be lost if figure images cannot be seen optimally, regardless of what the caption says. Creating alt text seemed redundant and monotonous on first glance, but after reading more details about its usefulness for visually impaired readers, as well as instructions on how to write it, I appreciate its placement and found it much easier to write than anticipated. Getting started was the hardest part; once I wrote alt text for just one figure, the process was very simple, and I churned through the remaining figures without challenge. It definitely makes for a different relationship between editor and text—to take the position of one who can’t see an image but who needs to know what it contains. It’s a good addition to my professional skillset and benefits a wider set of readers for my authors."
"I was a little hesitant to agree to provide alt text for the figures in our book because of all the last-minute issues that must be dealt with before going to press. But I quickly found the process to be painless, and that I could get all the help I needed from the awesome staff at CRC Press. But most importantly, I knew I would be helping readers who might not otherwise have access to our work. In the end I was proud to have helped CRC provide this important service."
"The use of Alt Text is a good initiative. I felt tremendous excitement because I knew that I was making a huge contribution to helping many people master the material in the book."
"To make knowledge available to anyone, I liked spending extra time on my manuscript preparing alt text for each figure as this is a hugely important for understanding as well as application of technology, and I am happy to be a part of a publisher that takes accessibility so seriously."
"Knowledge is for everyone and no barrier should prevent people to put themselves out there and learn new things. Therefore, we didn't hesitate to spend some time for associating some alt text to the figures included in our manuscript. We are really happy to work with an editor who has the same ideas, as we do, on this point and considers accessibility as one of the most important aspects for new manuscript projects."