Here’s a full transcript of the video, complete with detailed descriptions of the visuals. For visual users, we’ve included screenshots to show how transcripts are structured and why they’re such an important part of accessibility. Whether you prefer to watch, read, or both, we’ve got you covered.
Video transcript
Visual:
Red headed woman in red pyjamas lies on a couch, staring mindlessly at her social media feed on her phone, filled with memes including Burning Elmo, Boromir “One does not simply,” and the awkward side-eye puppet. A black domestic shorthair cat watches beside her.
Jessica, voice over:
Imagine you’re doomscrolling Twitter, but today, the images and animated gifs aren’t loading.
Visual:
The memes all disappear. The red-headed woman looks confused. Even the cat knows something’s wrong.
Jessica:
How many clapbacks are you missing out on?
“Text alternatives” is all about making sure everyone, no matter how they perceive the world, has the same information. We all want to laugh at the memes, or know what time the meetup is.
Welcome to What in the World is WCAG: 1.1 Text Alternatives.
Visual:
Title card. 1.1 Text Alternatives is scrawled onto a sticky note, which is slapped onto the screen by a cat’s paw. Now, we’re entering a presentation-style format.
Jessica:
Images and photos.
Take a moment and just listen.
Visual:
A cord falls from the top of the screen. A cat’s paw reaches out, grabs it, and pulls it down, turning out the lights. The screen is dark.
Jessica:
A cartoon meme in two parts. The first panel shows a dog wearing a hat, sitting calmly at a table with a mug. The room is on fire, smoke is covering the ceiling. The second panel is a close up of the dog who is smiling and saying, “This is fine.”
Visual:
The famous comic strip of a dog ignoring his house burning down, by KC Green, is revealed.
Jessica:
Could you picture this? Please bear in mind that not all images need alternative text. Some images are eye candy and don’t convey critical information. You will need to think about this in the context of the page, not just looking at the image in isolation.
Visual:
A login screen with an image of a padlock and medieval shield with a tick on it. The image is given a blank alt attribute. Taffy, the Siamese cat, appears and covers her mouth, not uttering even a meow.
Jessica:
Charts and graphs.
Here’s a chart showing first graders’ favorite ice cream flavors. It should have a text alternative like, “The chart shows that chocolate is the most popular flavor, followed by vanilla, strawberry, and then mint chip.”
This helps someone who can’t see the chart understand the information it’s sharing, and it proves that mint chip is bad ice cream. Feel free to disagree in the comments.
Visual:
Winky face.
Jessica:
Sensory experiences.
Visual:
Cartoon of Victor from the movie Corpse Bride, solemnly playing a piano in a darkened room. There’s an mp3 media player hovering over the graphic.
Jessica:
A cello solo, a work of art… These are sensory experiences that should be described with text. For example, you might describe Victor’s piano solo from the movie Corpse Bride as, “A 19th century romantic-era piece, similar to Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata. The slow arpeggios in C-sharp minor builds in tempo to drive a dark and yet somewhat shrill emotional ride, and it ends abruptly with a discordance of keys as the song is interrupted.”
CAPTCHA.
CAPTCHA stands for Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart. That’s definitely why it’s an acronym.
Visual:
Jeeves, a black and white maine coon, appears. He’s raising an eyebrow at the definition of CAPTCHA.
Jessica:
CAPTCHAs cannot just be clicking on parts of photos.
Visual:
An example of CAPTCHA, with an image of a cat staring intensely at a toy. The image is broken out into a grid, with a written instruction for the user, telling them to click the boxes that contain cats.
Jessica:
They must provide alternative options for different sensory perception like audio.
Visual:
A different kind of CAPTCHA, this time it has an audio player. Underneath is a text field for the user to type what they hear.
Jessica:
Some of the newer ones are even better as they are a tick box, but use how you navigate and interact with it to determine if you are human.
Text alternatives. If a picture paints a thousand words, don’t tell half the story.