Guidelines for Using Images

General: Screenshots are great for a visual aid when necessary.
Use screenshots sparingly: When something changes, they are not as easy to update as plain text.
When to use screenshots: When the instructional steps are complex or several actions are incorporated into a step or into many steps.

• Best judgement will have to be used when deciding whether or not to add a screenshot.

• Ask yourself: Is it really necessary? Can I just use plain text or does an image really add a lot of value?

Consistency: All KB contributors should be using a standard image capturing method. This will allow for consistency among the KB article

• For PC → use the snipping tool. Make sure you take your snip at a high enough zoom so that the resolution is maintained once you place your image into the article.
• For Mac →  use the print screen function and crop the image. Make sure that the section you want to crop is not too small and that it will retain a high resolution when you input the image to your article.

Images on the Page

Image size

• Screenshots should be big enough to get the point across without having to click on or enlarge the image.
• Ensure that you size the image in Confluence so that it does not extend past the text around it, and so that it is not too small either. Judgement is key here.
  • Make sure your image is not blurry.
• As a guide for how to size your image, consider that users should be able to clearly view the image contents without having to click on it.

Image background

• Images with a white background will get lost on a white page, so consider adding a 1x black border around the image.

Image Positioning

• Screenshots should come below the written instructions. Add a space after the image if necessary so it doesn't run into unrelated steps below it.

Alt Text

Inputting Alt Text

1. For Images where there is explanatory text above the images
   1. In this case the explanation is already above the image, so to avoid redundancy we will use a NULL alt tag here. To put in a NULL tag, just put double quotes "" into the alt text dialogue box. 
2. For images that do not have explanatory text above the image
   1. In this case, because the purpose of the image is not adequately described above the image, a descriptive alt tag should be used. See the "Descriptive Alt Text" portion of section 4.1 in the style guide. 

• ALT TEXT EXAMPLE: WITH explanatory text above the image.
  • Use a NULL alt tag when you have adequately described the purpose of the image in the text above the image.

1. Make the text font Arial and the font size 12.
2. Make sure bold is selected and make sure that your highlight color is yellow
Alt text = ""

• ALT TEXT EXAMPLE: WITHOUT explanatory text above the image.
  • In this case, use a descriptive alt tag when you place an image into your article and have not adequately described above the image what the user is supposed to gain from the image.