Back in the summer of 2017, Knewton’s alta images had an expensive problem. Whether the images were of parabolas, molecules, or supply and demand curves, they were all missing two important things: alt text and long descriptions.

Why do our images need alt text and long descriptions?

As part of being ADA Compliant, Knewton alta’s images need alt text and long descriptions to make the images accessible to screen readers. This is important so that our blind or visually impaired students can use assistive technology like screen readers to interact with our visual content.

An accessible image needs alternative text (alt text) and possibly also a long description, which the…