Adding Alternative Text to Images
Facebook has a built in alt-text generator for images that is largely inaccurate, and also offers a closed captioning feature within the platform.
We do not suggest relying on the automatic alt-text, as it does not accurately describe what is in the image and instead provides a description like “Image may contain one person, water, outdoors”.
- To edit the alt text, navigate to the image you would like to add or change the description and select the options menu at the bottom of the image.
- There, you will see an option that says “change alt-text”.
Once clicked, you will see the auto-generated description and will be able to replace it with a more accurate description in the provided field.
Once the text is saved, it will override the automatic alt-text of “one or more people and indoor”.
Captioning Videos
For captioning videos, as you create your video post, it will provide you a field to upload your .SRT (SubRip Text) file, which is used to add captions.
When uploading your caption file to Facebook, the file must be named in a particular way for it to correctly upload using country and language codes.
- If your captions are in English, use this naming convention: FileName.en_US
- If your captions are in Spanish, use this naming convention: FileName.es_LA
- For all other languages, please refer to the guide at the above link.
Captions will automatically appear in the appropriate language based on the user’s settings on their profile once the files have been uploaded with the video.
Questions?
If you questions about your social media content and whether it’s accessible, the social media team at UF Health is here to help! Send us an email at socialmedia@ahc.ufl.edu, or reach out to us directly.