Accessibility is important. We’ve talked about it, wrote about it and now we’re doing something about it.

Community admins have always had a responsibility to ensure our communities are accessible to all users. This responsibility has become even more important due to legislation changes within the EU. The purpose of this plugin is to improve accessibility by automatically generating accurate and relevant alt text for images across your community. It removes the need for moderators to manually check and edit content, while helping ensure that the forum meets recognised accessibility standards. The European Accessibility Act requires those providing digital services to demonstrate proactive compliance. By combining automation with generative AI, this solution will help your community stay ahead of those obligations, maintaining inclusiveness and improve the experience for all, while staying ahead of the requirements of the European Accessibility Act.

How it works
The automation periodically scans all forum posts for embedded images. Any image missing alt text will go through an AI-powered image recognition process which looks at each image, along with relevant post context.

Before	After
Image has no alt-text.	Image has alt-text and a visible description underneath the image

The AI generated description is then added back to the post via API as alt text, as well as a visible text box description below the image to enable all users to benefit from this additional context. There is no limit to the number of images per posts, and images can be places in between text without restriction.

Interested? Or want more information about our other Community enhancements? E-mail us at team@3sides.co or get in touch via our website.

We'd love to speak with you about how we can help design and build an online community for your business. Contact us - we look forward to meeting with you!