If you’re struggling with how to think about writing alt text for images (including graphs, charts, equations, and so on), get a little bit geeky and think like a Dungeons and Dragons game master! Accessibility advocate Eric Bailey explains in his article, Dungeons & Dragons taught me how to write alt text.

I went hard on immersing myself in the culture surrounding Dungeons and Dragons. This included subscribing to Dragon magazine.

I don’t remember the issue number, or the original author. However, I do remember it was from an advice column. The problem was the person who was running the game wanting to enliven his descriptions, as they felt like their narration was both boring and confusing.

The advice for that problem was spectacular, and it boiled down to describing the most important thing first…then supply detail in an order that aids in understanding the main point, and discard information that is irrelevant to the overall concept [you’re] trying to communicate.