26

I need the generated PDF to have "alt" text associated with each image so that a screen reader can read the alt text to the visually impaired user. I understand that essentially just including the "alt" text as the caption, or as part of the caption would be sufficient in reality, but we are dealing with government legal requirements and it would be far easier to be able to just check that box.

Has anyone done this? Any help appreciated. Thanks.

Speravir
  • 19,491
Daniel
  • 269

3 Answers3

15

Reading the PDF specification I would have thought, that something like

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage{accsupp}
\pagestyle{empty}

\begin{document}
123
\BeginAccSupp{method=plain,Alt={Hello}}%
  \includegraphics{img.png}%
\EndAccSupp{} %
456
\BeginAccSupp{method=plain,ActualText={world},space}%
  \includegraphics{img.png}%
\EndAccSupp{} %
789
\end{document}

would work. However, AR10/Win reads:

area code one two three four five six seven eight nine

without Hello and world.

Therefore I would be interested in a PDF file for analyzing that actually works.

Werner's method with overlaying text

  • In my experiments the text needed to be on top of the image, otherwise the PNG image (without transparency) suppressed the text that is overprinted by the image (AR10/Win).
  • Transparency is used to make the text invisible.
  • Additionally I have scaled the text to fit the width of the image to avoid longer text descriptions to fall of the page. But further experiments and testing with different screen readers would be useful to get the best strategy.

Example file:

\RequirePackage{cmap}% to get the ligature `fi' right
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{color}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage{transparent}
\newsavebox\imagebox
\newcommand*{\imagewithtext}[3][]{%
  \sbox\imagebox{\includegraphics[{#1}]{#2}}%
  \usebox\imagebox
  \llap{%
    \resizebox{\wd\imagebox}{\height}{%
      \texttransparent{0}{#3}%
    }%
  }%
}
\begin{document}
first \imagewithtext{img.png}{Hello world} last
\end{document}
Heiko Oberdiek
  • 271,626
  • \BeginAccSupp{ActualText=image replacement text,space}\EndAccSupp{}\includegraphics{img.png} seems to work fine with the Jovie text-to-speech plugin in okular and also with pdftotext. (Although something like Jaws won't recognise it as an alt-tagged image.) – Nicola Talbot Feb 14 '15 at 13:54
8

You can use PDF tooltips with the pdfcomment package. Then the 'alt' text (aka tooltip) is read!

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage{pdfcomment}
\pagestyle{empty}

\begin{document}
one two three

\pdftooltip{\includegraphics{img.png}}{This is the ALT text}%

four five six
\end{document}
Josef
  • 7,432
2

If you're up for creating an accessible version that is different from the regular version, the following elementary usage of text/graphics overlapping provides appropriate reading using Adobe Reader:

enter image description here

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{xcolor}% http://ctan.org/pkg/xcolor
\usepackage{graphicx}% http://ctan.org/pkg/graphicx
\makeatletter
\newcommand{\imagewithtext}[3][]{% \imagewithtext[<option>]{<text>}{<image>}
  \rlap{#2}% Print <text> in zero-width, right-overlap box
  \includegraphics[#1]{#3}% Print <image> with <options>
}
\makeatother
\begin{document}
There is a \imagewithtext[width=2em]{kitty}{tiger} in the brush.
\end{document}

AR picks up and reads There is a kitty in the brush. Depending on the images used, such text with either be visible or not. It would be possible to redefine \imagewithtext to gobble #2 (or the provided <text>).

Werner
  • 603,163
  • Nice trick, overlaying the image with text. However, in my experiments the text had to be on top to be recognized. I have edited my answer for a refined version that does not fit in this comment. – Heiko Oberdiek Oct 03 '12 at 05:43
  • @HeikoOberdiek: I had the same problem, but thought it had to do with the resizing of the text - also fitting it within the image box width. Didn't think about overlaying it on top though. – Werner Oct 03 '12 at 14:18