Teaching · Special Education

Charts described in words,
from the data itself

Enter the chart’s title, kind and what it measures, then type the values or paste two columns from a spreadsheet. The page works out the highest and lowest, how a line changes, or each slice’s share, and writes a short text alternative and a long description you can copy, print or save.

Describe a chartWhat you get
$12one-time · every device you sign in on
Buy · $12

Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Or get it in the Special Education toolkit, $99 for 143 items.

Charts

The worked example is made up: a bar chart of books read by five classes, a line graph of plant height pasted straight from a spreadsheet with no main point yet, and a pie chart from a class survey.

Loading the chart form. If nothing appears, turn on JavaScript.

What you get

Teaching · Special Education$12 · included with Classroom and Whole-school licenses

What you finish with
A saved record per chart: title, kind, axes, unit, source, data typed or pasted, the main point and six checks. The page writes a short text alternative and a long description by fixed rules (highest and lowest for bars, change and percent change for lines, sorted shares for pies, every value when there are 12 or fewer) and flags skipped lines, missing main points and pie values that cannot be slices. Prints the description on its own.
Who it is for
Teachers, special education teachers, teachers of students with visual impairments, accessibility coordinators and anyone preparing charts for students who use screen readers or braille.
Format
Browser tool with a saved record per chart. Prints the short text and long description together, the full record, every chart in a table or a blank form; downloads a spreadsheet (.csv); exports and imports a file.
Access
$12 one-time, yours on every device you sign in on; the tool opens once you are signed in with it. Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Also in the Special Education toolkit ($99) and the Teaching Suite pass ($199), and 1 more bundle. Everything you type stays in this browser; nothing is sent to Caveat.
Where it lives
The Special Education space in Caveat Teaching.
Support
Questions about access, an order or a correction: team@caveatacademic.com.

How to use it

  1. Enter the title, kind and what is measured.
  2. Type the values or paste them from a spreadsheet.
  3. Write the main point in one sentence.
  4. Copy the short text into the alt text field.
  5. Place the long description and data table next to the chart.

Describe a chart

Two layers of description

Short text and long description, side by sideShort textThe kind of chart andits titleThe one thing to takeawayAbout 150 charactersor fewerLong descriptionWhat is measured, bywhat, in which unitsHighest and lowest, orhow it changesEvery value, whenthere are 12 or fewerData tableThe numbersthemselves, in rowsBest for many valuesKept next to the chartShort text and long description, side by sideShort textThe kind of chart and its titleThe one thing to take awayAbout 150 characters or fewerLong descriptionWhat is measured, by what, in which unitsHighest and lowest, or how it changesEvery value, when there are 12 or fewerData tableThe numbers themselves, in rowsBest for many valuesKept next to the chart
A chart needs two layers of description. The short text says what it is and why it is there; the long description and the data table carry the detail.

What the rules do

For a bar chart the page names the highest and lowest bars; for a line graph, where it starts and ends and the percent change; for a pie chart, each slice’s share from largest to smallest. With 12 or fewer values it lists them all; with more it asks for a data table instead. The main point is yours to write: only you know why the chart is in the lesson.

Short text and long description

The short text alternative goes in the image’s alt text field and says what the chart is and its main point. The long description sits next to the chart or is linked from it. W3C guidance treats charts as complex images that need both, and a data table is often the most usable form of all.

Sources

  1. W3C Web Accessibility Initiative. Images Tutorial: Complex Images (w3.org/WAI/tutorials/images/complex).
  2. W3C. Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2, success criterion 1.1.1 Non-text Content (w3.org/TR/WCAG22).
  3. DIAGRAM Center. Image Description Guidelines: graphs and charts (diagramcenter.org).
  4. National Center for Accessible Media (NCAM) and DIAGRAM Center. Effective Practices for Description of Science Content within Digital Talking Books.

The worked example is made up, including the data. The description is assembled by fixed rules from the values and words you enter; read it over before use. Nothing you type is sent to Caveat. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.