Another way to describe what’s contained in an image is by using an image description. Here’s an example of an image description from a post by Judy Katz on LinkedIn. She is announcing a webinar on neurodivergence and has included an image that includes her picture and the title of the talk, “An Insider Approach to Designing for Neurodivergent Learners (and How it Benefits Everyone).” The post contains an image description (labeled “ID:”) describing the image.

I was going to go into a description in this post of the differences between alt text and image descriptions and when to use each of them. However, I stumbled across this post by Veronica Lewis, How To Write Alt Text and Image Descriptions for the Visually Impaired. She provides an in-depth look at the similarities and differences of alt text and image descriptions.

Veronica describes four key differences between alt text and image descriptions: location, visibility, length of text, and level of detail. She also suggests “…using both alt text and image descriptions when possible, since image descriptions can also be read in large print or by people who aren’t using screen readers.” I highly recommend reading the entire article.

A helpful tip (which Judy uses in her aforementioned post) is to include “ID:” or “Image Description:” at the beginning of the description so readers know the text is describing an image. Using alt text, image descriptions, or both will make your images more accessible for more people which in turn, makes your content more understandable for more people.

1. Upload your image to your Notion page.
   
   

   

   
   
2. You can access the alt text area in one of two ways.
   1. Option 1
      1. Hover over the image until the toolbar appears at the top right of the image.
         
         

         

         
         
      2. Select the More (⋯) button from the toolbar.
      3. In the drop-down list, select More options and then select Alt text.
         
         

         

         
         
   2. Option 2
      1. Right-click the image and select More options and then select Alt text.
3. The Alt text box appears in the upper far left of your Notion screen.
   
   

   

   
   
4. Type your alt text into the Add alt text… field and press Enter.
   
   

   

   
   
5. A small white box with the letters ALT now displays in the bottom right corner of your image to indicate that the image has alt text.
   
   

   

   
   
6. Hovering your mouse pointer over the white box with the ALT letters displays a message that shows the alt text you added to the image followed by Click to view and edit alt text.
   
   

   

   
   
7. If you click on the white box with ALT letters, it opens the Add alt text box where you can edit your alt text and press Enter to update it.
   
   

   

1. Add text to your post (if necessary) and then upload your image (by selecting the + in the bottom left or dragging your image into the post).
   
   

   

   
   
2. Select the image to open it and select Edit file details in the upper left of the image.
   
   

   

   
   
3. Add your alt text in the Description box and select Save Changes.
   
   

   

   
   
4. The image in your post now has ALT in the bottom left indicating alt text has been added.
   
   

   

   
   
5. If you select the ALT text in the bottom left of your image, the Description (alt text) appears with the alt text you entered. You can select the pencil to edit the alt text.
   
   

   

Slack also allows you to add an option that reminds you to add alt text every time you add an image to a post. If you try to add an image without alt text and then select the Send button to post, the Edit alt text window appears for you to enter alt text.

1. To enable this feature, select your Profile image in the bottom left of Slack and then select Preferences.
   
   

   

   
   
2. Select Accessibility in the Preferences menu.
   
3. Under Alt text reminders, check the Remind me to add an image description on image uploads checkbox.
   
   

   

1. Open your Media library in WordPress and upload a new image.
2. Select the image. The Attachment details window opens. The uploaded image is displayed to the left and details about the image are displayed to the right. Below the details are form fields where you can enter more information about the image. The fields include Alternative Text, Title, Caption, and Description.
   
   
   
   
3. Enter the alt text for the image in the Alternative text field.
   
   
4. Close (“x” out of) the Attachment details window.
5. Open a WordPress post and insert the uploaded image.

Let’s say you forget to add alt text when you upload your image to your Media library. When you insert that image with no alt text into a post, you receive two indicators that you are missing alt text:

• The image has a red box around it.
• At the top of the image there is a highlighted box that reads “alt text missing.”
  
  

  

You can easily fix this.

1. Select the image with the missing alt text.
2. In the Block panel in WordPress, go to the Settings/Alternative Text field and add the appropriate alt text. Once you do that, your image is updated and the two error indicators disappear.
   
   

   

A note of caution…

We updated the previous image by adding alt text to it. However, the image in your Media library was not updated and still has no alt text attached to it. If you use the image again, you will again be notified that it contains no alt text.

The best approach is to add alt text to an image when you upload it to the Media library. This makes it a habit in your image upload process which in turn makes your posts more accessible.

1. Start writing a new post. After you’ve added your text, select the Add image icon in the bottom left of the Post window.
   
   

   

   
   
2. Select the image to upload. Notice that Bluesky provides two messages for you:
   • At the top of the window is a box outlined in bright red that reads, “One or more images is missing alt text.”
   • At the bottom of the window is a box that reads, “Alt text describes images for blind and low-vision users, and helps give context to everyone.”
     
     

     

     
     
3. Select the +ALT icon at the top of the image.
4. The Add alt text section opens. Add your alt text in the “Descriptive alt text” box and select Save.
   
   

   

   
   
5. You can tell that the alt text has been added to the image because the +ALT at the top of the image changes to ✓ALT (check mark ALT).
   
   

   

   
   
6. Your post now has your text and your image with alt text. If you need to edit the image, select the pencil icon. If you need to edit the alt text, select the ✓ALT (check mark ALT). If your text looks good and you are happy with the alt text, select Post.

Another benefit of adding alt text to images is if your image doesn’t load on the page. When this happens, the alt text will display instead so that the user can at least have an idea of what the image should be.

Many companies are making it easier to add alt text to images in their apps. To make it even easier, I’ve created a step-by-step guide with screenshots for how to add alt text to images in LinkedIn.

1. Start writing a new post. After you’ve added your text, select the Add image icon at the bottom of the Add post window.
   
   

   

   
   
2. Select the image to upload and then select ALT at the bottom of the window.
   
   

   

   
   
3. The Add alt text section opens. Add your alt text in the space provided and then select Add.
   
   

   

   
   
4. You can tell (although the color contrast could be better) that alt text has been added to the image because the ALT text is green. Select Next.
   
   

   

   
   
5. Your post now has your text and your image with alt text. If you need to edit the alt text, select the pencil icon above the image. This opens the Add alt text section again. If your text looks good and you are happy with the alt text, select Post.
   
   

   

Pretty easy, right? In future posts, I’ll show you how to add alt text in other apps.

P.S. If you forget to add alt text to your image before you post your update, that’s okay! You can go to the post, select the horizontal ellipsis in the top right, select Edit post, and add the missing alt text to your image.

Digital Accessibility Ethics: Disability Inclusion in All Things Tech by Lainey Feingold.

From the book description: Digital Accessibility Ethics: Disability Inclusion in All Things Tech is a groundbreaking collection of 32 chapters written by 39 disabled and nondisabled authors from 10 countries and one commonwealth. Digital Accessibility Ethics: Disability Inclusion in All Things Tech introduces the Digital Accessibility Ethics Framework. It’s an action-oriented three-part tool designed to disrupt disability exclusion in tech with values, actions and questions.

The Instructional Design Handbook by Tim Slade.

From the book description: The Instructional Design Handbook: A Practitioner’s Guide to Designing Performance-Based Learning cuts through the noise of frameworks and theory to deliver a practical, no-BS guide to how instructional design actually works.

From identifying whether training is the right solution to designing learning that drives real performance, this book helps new and aspiring instructional designers build the skills, confidence, and judgment to create training that actually changes behavior on the job.

Disabling Intelligences: Legacies of Eugenics and How We are Wrong about AI by Rua Williams.

From the book description: This book discusses the influences of eugenics on the AI industry and the impacts of AI opportunism on disabled people. Why are the negative consequences of so-called AI so consistently directed at disabled and racialized people? Disabling Intelligences answers this question by detailing the ongoing effects of the eugenicist mindset on our corporate ventures and our interpersonal relationships. It offers an accessible guide to the various meanings, methods, and impacts of AI, and provides a clear framework for classifying, categorizing, evaluating, and critiquing AI projects.

The Frontline Enablement Playbook: Equip Your Deskless Workforce to Power Organizational Performance by JD Dillon.

From the book description: The Frontline Enablement Playbook is a comprehensive guide for L&D, HR, and operations teams focused on improving performance across the deskless workforce. Drawing on 25 years of hands-on experience and insights from more than 50 global contributors—including Matthew Daniel, Chad Udell, and Gina Jeneroux—JD Dillon outlines practical ways to improve onboarding, training, communication, compliance, recognition, career development, and everyday readiness.

Building the Skills-Based Organization: A Blueprint for Transformation by Koreen Pagano.

From the book description: In this book, explore the different components of a skills-based organization—hiring and recruitment, organizational culture, performance management, and career development—as well as strategies for continuous improvement at the people, process, and system levels. Learn to understand the current potential for skills, what is needed to overcome resistance to the change, and how to secure buy-in from your organization’s decision makers. Examine how to plan for the collection, analysis, and governance of your skills data.

I can’t wait to dive into these books and soak up their knowledge and experiences. What books are you reading or excited about reading?

I’m trying to stay focused but not consumed. For instance, sitting at my computer doom-scrolling LinkedIn for 8 hours a day isn’t helpful. I try to keep it to twice a day for actual job search activities – morning and early evening. I’ve found that I’m even busier with other things than when I had a job. Maybe it’s that I have more time to dedicate to those other things.

So, what am I doing? How am I staying focused? How am I keeping the Black Dog away?

1. As I mentioned above, I’m actively searching for a job twice per day.
2. I’m posting more on LinkedIn as a way to engage and to keep my name and face out there.
   • Monday: I post a short plug for a chapter and author from the Design for All Learners: Create Accessible and Inclusive Learning Experiences book.
   • Thursday: In a throwback to something I did on Twitter, I’m practicing Thankful Thursdays. Each Thursday I express my gratitude for one person from my life and why I am thankful they are part of my journey.
   • Friday: I write up a blog post like this one and share it to LinkedIn.
3. I recently joined a group called Never Search Alone (NSA). Hat tip to Brian Dusablon for telling me about it. NSA (yeah, I know) is a book/movement that encourages you to seek help from other people to find a job, rather than the traditional “go it alone” way we are used to doing. It’s not that they are doing your work for you in finding a job, but that you are doing it together. They help you and you help them. You read the NSA book and you join a Job Search Council (JSC) which is made up of 5-6 people who are also job-hunting. You work through the exercises in the book and meet with your JSC for a minimum of 11 sessions to talk about your experience with the exercises and your respective job searches.
4. I’m trying to be more social and meeting people for coffee, beer, or lunch. Being able to get out of the house and out of my head helps a lot.
5. I’ve been making time to walk my dog every morning. I’d fallen off the daily walk schedule because we have a fenced-in backyard, i.e. Laziness 1, David 0. I’m mainly walking to exercise my dog but it’s also been a good level-set to start my day.
6. I’m reading a bunch, mostly learning and development stuff (I know, I know. Step away.) Here’s a sampling.
   • Writing for Busy Readers: Communicate More Effectively in the Real World by Todd Rogers and Jessica Lasky-Fink
   • Never Search Alone by Phyl Terry
   • The Instructional Designer’s Guide to Project Management by Dr. Guieswende Rouamba
   • Lost Connections by Johann Hari
   • The Manual: A Philosopher’s Guide to Life by Epictetus (new translation by Sam Torode)
7. I’ve been trying to meditate once a day, emphasis on trying.

Staying busy with these activities definitely keeps the rumination at bay and generally keeps my spirits up. I’m hoping that continues until I am gainfully employed again.

Here, the main goal of an e-learning course is teaching the learner how to use the software – getting them up-to-speed quickly so they can use it in their daily workflow. To that end, the course should be heavy on demos and hands-on practice. However, there are some other items you’ll want to include to structure and guide the learner through the course.

Structure

Let’s say the course has five lessons plus an intro lesson. A helpful thing to include in an intro lesson is a graphic organizer. This is a graphical representation of a high-level overview of the course. To reinforce the course content, you can include this at the beginning of each lesson and update the image to indicate what aspect the lesson covers (either by removing content from the image or greying out areas you aren’t discussing in that lesson). Check out Miro for some great examples and explanations of different graphic organizers.

Another helpful item to add at the beginning of a course or lesson is a list of key terms. Software often has a lot of terms that new users aren’t familiar with so including a short section at the beginning of your course, or better yet each lesson, helps cement those concepts in your learner’s mind. If you’re wondering how to include these in your authoring tool, here are some ideas:

• a glossary of all terms
• a tabbed interaction in each lesson
• a bulleted list in each lesson
• an accordion (if the key terms have long definitions or include examples)
• a labeled graphic (to show key terms in the interface)

It’s also a good idea to think about the big picture of the course. What topic or area is the best place to start with when teaching the software? How do the lessons tie together? The graphic organizer helps with this. Are the lengths of the lessons similar or is one lesson overloaded with content? Are you showing or explaining multiple ways to do different tasks in the software? Do you have software demos and practices in each lesson?

While you are thinking about course structure, be thinking about accessibility too. Will you have images or screenshots? If so, they should have alt text. Will you have audio narration? You’ll at least need closed captions. A transcript is also helpful. This also applies to video content. There are other accessibility requirements but these are some of the baseline items you need to include.

Tell

It’s also a good idea to include some contextual reference in a software training course. How can the learner implement this in their job? What are the benefits of using it? Are there multiple ways to do use it? Why is this the best or most efficient way to use it?

Along with answering some or all of these questions, a great tactic is to create a real-world scenario that directly explains how the software helps users do their jobs. If your lessons build on each other, it helps to keep the same scenario throughout the course. If it’s too complex to keep the same scenario, it’s okay to create smaller scenarios for each lesson or topic.

How do you want to introduce the course or a lesson? A talking-head video brings an instructor into the course and adds more personalization. If it’s not in your budget to record an instructor, there are plenty of AI tools where you can create talking avatars. Or maybe you want to introduce the course by immediately describing a real-world scenario that sets up the learning experience.

Show

Once you set up the context you can then show how the software works with a demo. Demos provide a good baseline understanding for the software. And they can generally be broken into smaller chunks to target specific tasks in the software. Depending on the complexity of the software and your knowledge of it, the demos might need to be recorded by an instructor or subject matter expert.

The great thing about demos in e-learning is that they can be viewed as many times as you like. This is particularly handy if the instructor talks too fast or if it is a complex topic.

Do

As I stated earlier, hands-on learning is the best way to learn and apply the software in the real world. Many training teams have access to a test or training staging area of the software. This allows for direct access to try out the software. Each lesson of the course should have practice instructions that the learner can use directly in the software. These are typically stepped out lists showing a particular function within the software. As learners progress through the course, you can provide less scaffolding or directions on how to do the basic tasks.

Sometimes you don’t have access to a live version of the software. In this case, you can build a software simulation with your favorite e-learning authoring tool and add the “clicks” or text entry the learner needs to perform to walk through the task. It’s not as good as the real thing, but it at least mimics what the software looks like and what actions the learner would take to complete a task.

The above items aren’t an exhaustive list of what to include in software training. And you don’t have to include all of them to create a successful learning experience. But they are items that I’ve learned to include over the years in order to help the learner improve their skillset.

Let’s look at three things to be aware of and how they could become sticking points.

Time is (not) on my side

In an ideal world, software developers build the software, sign off that it is complete, and then instructional designers (IDs) and subject matter experts (SMEs) build the training for the said software. Unfortunately, this is rarely (if ever) the case. The problem is two-fold.

1. Management expects the training to be built and ready to go at the same time the software is released so that customers can get up and running quickly.
2. The development process has a freeze date when no further development is done. The problem here is that it is frequently too close to the product release date, which doesn’t provide the training team adequate time to develop accurate and helpful training. This also means that the training team must build the training while the developers are still building the product. We call this “building the plane as we are flying it.”

Building the software and the training at the same time causes unnecessary tension between the two teams. The developers are in the midst of building and the training team (IDs or SMEs) frequently needs answers to how something works in the software. Both teams are stretched thin for time and want to focus on their own responsibilities.

What this means for the training team is limited access to the developers, so they have to build the training and either guess at what the functionality will be or make the first iteration of the training content basic and generic. This isn’t always the case. Sometimes the stars align and the training team is able to incorporate all the functionality into the training content in time for the initial release. But often this is not the case.

(Un)necessary evil

Another potential hazard when developing software training is the add or subtract issue. Sometimes software developers cannot get a part of the functionality to work correctly before the development freeze date. This could lead to that functionality being removed for the first iteration.

Or a piece of functionality that wasn’t planned for the initial release is suddenly production-ready and is added to the scope of the first release.

Both of these scenarios play havoc with the training team’s learning content, especially if the function that is being removed has a ripple effect through other parts of the training. Either way means additional training materials.

Freeze frame

Screenshots of the software that are used in the training materials can also become a nightmare. If there is a UI change after the screenshots have been captured, this means going back in and re-capturing new ones. Depending on the number of screenshots, this can take a fair amount of time. On each of the teams I was a part of we tried to minimize the amount of screenshots to avoid this scenario.

Software screenshots often have personally identifiable user information that needs to be blurred or removed. This is an easy thing to forget when time is short. It also adds more work when you have to re-capture screenshots as previously mentioned.

Finally, you need to make your screenshots accessible by adding alt text to each. Alt text is descriptive text that can be read by a screen reader to users with visual disabilities. If you have to re-capture all new screenshots due to a UI change, this means you need to add the alt text back to each image. You also might need to edit the alt text to reflect the UI change.

Think about these three things if you are tasked with developing software training. They aren’t the only things to watch out for, but they are the most common things I’ve dealt with when building software training. Feel free to contact me for additional help.