This guide has provided a few examples of alt text with graphs and photographs. Below are further examples for additional types of images.
Painting or Statue
Figure 1.1. Martin Luther King, Jr., was a leader in the Civil Rights Movement.
Source: https://pixabay.com/photos/sculpture-statue-mlk-3088486/
Short alt text: A statue of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Editor’s Tip
Notice how we do not provide extraneous facts about the statue, such as the artist or location, as that would provide information a sighted student would not know from just looking at the image.
Pie Chart
Figure 3.5. The United States has a larger budget for the military than any other country.
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/
File:2018_Military_Expenditures_by_Country.pngShort alt text: A pie chart showing military expenditures in 2018 by country in billions of United States dollars.
Long alt text: The United States accounts for nearly one-third of the total at 643.3 billion dollars. The next largest share by country is China at 168.2 billion dollars.
Editor’s Tip
Notice how we do not list out the expenditures for every individual country. You certainly could, but the caption gives a clue that what is most important to the reading experience is the United States’s spending. If the caption were different, the alt text might focus on a different country or on all the countries and provide a full listing. We recommend writing captions that clearly indicate to students what the primary focus of the figure is, and using alt text to follow this as a guide.
