Alt text is a short written description of an image that screen readers read aloud, helping respondents who use assistive technology understand what an image shows. At aytm, you can add alt text to the images in your survey and translate it into every survey language from the Translation Table, so your images stay accessible in each fielding language.
⚠️ Note: Alt text is optional—your survey will always launch whether or not you've filled it in. When an image has no alt text, aytm supplies a neutral, localized fallback so screen readers still announce the image.
Alt text is available for most images you add to a survey. A few image types don't support it—Heatmap and Menu Test question images, brand and company logos, additional product images, and Smart Loop image variables—so you won't see an alt text field for those.
In This Article
- Adding Alt Text in Your Researcher Language
- Translating Alt Text into Other Languages
- Using a Different Image for a Language
- Keeping Translations in Sync
- In a Live Survey
Adding Alt Text
No matter how many languages you are fielding in, you must enter Alt Text from the Translation table. If fielding in multiple languages, start with your Researcher Language.
- Hover over a supported image in the Survey Editor and click Add alt text to open that image's alt text in the Translation Table, or click the Languages button in the upper-right corner of the Survey Editor (or above any question) to open the Translation Table.
- Click the camera icon or image to expand the alt text field for the language column you want to edit.
- Type or paste a brief, accurate description of the image—what it shows and why it matters to the question.
Note: Alt text can be up to 200 characters (some plans allow more). The character counter turns red if you go over.
💡 Tip: The Add alt text hover shortcut is the fastest way in—it drops you directly onto the right image's field in the Translation Table, so you don't have to hunt for it.
Translating Alt Text into Other Languages
Once your Researcher Language alt text is set, translate it the same way you translate the rest of your survey. You have three options:
- Type it manually—expand the alt text field under any language column and enter the translation.
- Use Skipper Translate—aytm's AI translation can fill in alt text along with the rest of your copy. See Skipper Translate for details.
- Upload a CSV—click Download CSV in the Translation Table to export your survey, including a dedicated alt text column for each image, then re-upload the translated file. See Building a Multilingual List Survey for the CSV workflow.
⚠️ Note: On import, aytm only fills in alt text for a language that already has an image in that cell. Empty image cells are skipped, so a spreadsheet never creates images you didn't add.
Using a Different Image for a Language
By default, when you upload an image to your Researcher Language, it's automatically piped into every target language. You'll see a Piped from [Researcher Language] indicator next to the image in those columns so you know it's a shared copy. However, some images need a localized version—for example, when an ad has text that needs to be translated.
To replace a piped image with a localized one:
- In the Translation Table find the target language's cell.
- Click the camera icon or select an image thumbnail to upload a new image. Once you've uploaded a localized version, you'll see it in a black circle with an Attention: localized version label and a DELETE button.
💡 Tip: If you delete a localized version, the image automatically reverts to the piped version from your Researcher Language, so you don't lose the original.
Any alt text you've already entered for the target language stays put. Alt text belongs to the language, not to the image file, so uploading a localized image or updating it in your researcher language won't erase your description.
Your researcher language column is read-only in the Translation Table—you can't edit or delete images there. To change an image across all languages, update it in your researcher language, and the new version pipes forward to all targets.
Keeping Translations in Sync
If you change your researcher language alt text after a translation already exists, the system flags the affected translations as outdated so nothing silently falls out of date. The quick actions on a flagged field depend on whether Skipper Translate is turned on.
When Skipper Translate is off, you'll see:
- OK here—keep the current translation for this language only.
- OK here and in other languages—clear the flag for every affected language at once.
When Skipper Translate is on, you'll see:
- OK here—keep the current translation for this language only.
- Translate—re-translate this language's alt text with Skipper Translate. Click each language's flag in turn to re-translate more than one.
Editing the alt text yourself also clears the outdated flag automatically.
In a Live Survey
Every image in your fielded survey carries its alt text in the language the respondent is taking the survey in, so screen readers announce a meaningful description. Where you left alt text blank, aytm uses a localized fallback rather than leaving the image undescribed.