Accessibility and inclusion: publishing graphic charts and complicated images

Web accessibility has always been a requirement for UMaine websites, and has been a regular feature in our monthly newsletter. Ensuring your content is accessible is part of an inclusive communication strategy.

This month, we highlight the topic of graphic charts and complicated images:

What are complicated images?

Graphic charts, such as pie charts, flow charts or bar graphs, and other complicated images pose a unique challenge to accessibility as the information in these complicated images cannot be fully conveyed in under 125 characters, thus making it not possible to simply describe the image in the alt text. All information conveyed in a graphic chart or complicated image must be available in an alternative text format in order to be made accessible.

Thus, graphic charts and complicated images take additional time and effort to make accessible for the web. Editors should take extra consideration in determining which graphic charts and complicated images are needed, or when a text-based option may be equally effective.

Continue reading on the University of Maine System’s Accessibility Guide