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Glossary

Terms used in accessibility research and practice. Each entry has a definition, common aliases, and category tags.

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Alt Text Authoring(also: Alt Text Writing, Image Description Authoring)
The process of composing alternative text descriptions for digital images, undertaken by content authors, developers, or dedicated accessibility specialists. Research has identified several barriers to effective alt text authoring, including authors not knowing what to include,…
Automatic Alt Text(also: AI-generated Alt Text, Auto Alt Text, Machine-generated Alt Text)
Alternative text for images that is automatically generated by artificial intelligence systems using computer vision and natural language processing. Platforms like Microsoft PowerPoint, Facebook, and Twitter have incorporated automatic alt text features to increase image…
Decorative Image(also: Decorative Graphic, Presentational Image)
An image that serves a purely aesthetic or visual design purpose and does not convey meaningful information to the user. According to WCAG guidelines, decorative images should receive empty alt text (alt="") so that screen readers skip over them rather than announcing…
Long Description(also: Extended Description, longdesc)
A detailed textual description of an image or other non-text content that goes beyond the brief summary provided by alt text. Long descriptions are used for complex images such as charts, diagrams, infographics, or detailed illustrations where a short alt text cannot convey all…
Semantic Level(also: Semantic Content Level, Alt Text Semantic Level)
A framework for categorizing the depth of information conveyed in alt text descriptions of data visualizations, introduced by Lundgard and Satyanarayan. The four levels are: Level 1 (construction details such as chart type, axes, and encodings), Level 2 (statistical properties…

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