5 Ideas for Better Blogging With Pictures
Wednesday, August 1st, 2007 at 8:00 am
Everyone loves pictures and lately, with the abundance of digital cameras going around, everyman and his dog are posting photos on their blogs. I read a new article on A List Apart today called Reviving Anorexic Web Writing. I thought it was an enjoyable and thought-provoking piece, well worth reading - especially for bloggers. The article was mainly about writing, but the author touched on an important issue regarding pictures on the internet - “alt text”. This inspired me to share a few thoughts about using pictures when blogging:
Alt Text
“Alt text” is the additional text information for a picture and is a requirement for pictures online. Most blogging software or services allow you to write alt text for images when uploading or posting them. You can often see the alt text showing up while a picture is still busy loading. Alt text can be very useful, especially when it is clear, thorough and descriptive.
HTML code for a picture called beach03.jpg would look something like this when alt text is added:
<img src="beach03.jpg" alt="John playing volleyball on Sunset Beach - on johnsblog.com" />You may think it’s silly to add a text description to an image, since you don’t really see the text, just the image. Here are a few reasons why it is actually very important:- Download time
Pictures may take ages to load for users on slower computers and poor internet connections. Alt text offers users an opportunity to see what the pictures are of, without them having to wait until the images are loaded. - SEO (search engine optimisation)
Search engines can index your pictures more accurately if they have full descriptions. Think about it, when doing an image search, people might find your pictures which could result in some new traffic to your blog. - Mobile Devices
Some users disable the display of images in their browsers and mobile phones while other mobile devices simply can’t display pictures, so your alt descriptions would come in very handy. - Disabilities
Internet users with disabilities such as poor vision use “screen readers”. This software reads the content of web pages aloud. Since they won’t be able to see your pictures, they will be able to “hear” them. - Context and Source
You may have noticed that stuff has a habit of finding its way around on the internet, so there is no guarantee that the first time someone comes across your pictures, they will be ON your blog. By adding some strategic information in the alt text, people may be able to find their way back to the source - your blog.
If you are still not convinced to write good alt text, Amber Simmons makes a compelling argument in her A List Apart article:
I guess if you don’t really care about what the image says, you really don’t need it in the first place.
- Download time
- Size
Over-sized images are a sure way to lose prospective readers. 2 possible problems caused by large images are:- they take up too much space while breaking up the flow of your layout
- unnecessarily large pictures waste time loading
Even when using thumbnails in your blog, don’t feel compelled to link them to your high res 8Mb originals. Most people have a screen resolution of 1024×768 pixels. That means the size of their browser window isn’t much larger than 900×600. I have found that pictures of around 400×300 pixels (give or take a little) do the job just fine.
- Impact
Will a reader understand the picture, or is it too abstract? If there are two pictures that are basically saying the same thing, use only the better one - not both. If an image is not saying something relevant, rather leave it out. Irrelevant pictures will only confuse the reader and get in the way of what you are really trying to say. Wisdump recently wrote an article entitled How One Badly Chosen Picture Can Ruin A Great Concept. By placing one strategically chosen picture, you will communicate your message much better than using 20 mediocre images. - Quality
Sometimes blurry, badly-lit, grainy images work well to convey a mood or concept, for example if you’re blogging about recent sightings of the Loch Ness Monster or Bigfoot. Otherwise, use images of a respectable quality. Nobody likes squinting to try and make out what your pixels are depicting.
- Relevance
Jessica Neuman Beck says it well in an article on Digital Web Magazine:An image is like a headline; choose images that speak clearly to your point. An obscure or meaningless image is just filler.
We all know the old cliché; “a picture speaks a thousand words,” so take care when selecting images for your blog. Ask yourself which images are adding value to your communication by actually saying something.
Finally, a bonus idea for those with some photo editing skills, take a look at the pictures Mark Hoppus posts on his blog, Hi My Name Is Mark. He has a small strip at the bottom of each image containing the website address. That’s pretty clever, so if other bloggers “borrow” your pictures, you will automatically be credited.
Miguel Vera Says:
August 5th, 2007 at 12:15 pm
Very solid reasons for using the “alt text”, I didn’t think about it that way. Nice blog Imar, and outstanding design. By the way I’m reading you thanks to a link from Darren at ProBlogger. Cheers.
Blogsolid Says:
August 5th, 2007 at 3:46 pm
Hi Miguel
Thanks for dropping by, I am glad you like this site! I think Darren Rowse’s “31 Days to Building a Better Blog” at ProBlogger.net is a great concept.
Kristin Says:
December 6th, 2007 at 6:59 pm
http://www.hp.com/united-state.....index.html
Take Better Photos
Tips and techniques from HP Digital Photography to improve your digital photos and make them stand out in your photo album.