Images on the Southwark Council website

This guidance is for people who are sending in an image to upload to the Southwark Council website. 

Image format

The below is a rough guide to help you when uploading images based on current best practice; we will update this page occasionally as best practice changes.

When sending an image to the Southwark Council website:

• include a maximum of two images per page; if you have more images, remove some or consider breaking the content into chapters
• when adding images to content, horizontal images should be max. 800 pixels wide or high
• SCULPT guidelines advise aiming for an image file size of 150KB
• if working with designers or using an image editor software such as Photoshop, aim for a resolution of 72-100dpi and an image quality of 75%, and when exporting your image use the ‘Save For Web’ option
• save your images as JPEG (.jpg) or PNG (.png) files
• think of a short (2-5 word) literal description for each image; use this as the file name, and write this description next to each image in your document when making a webpage content request (for more information on why this is needed, read the gov.uk guidance on image descriptions)
• name each image with words separated by hyphens as in this example: elephant-and-castle-map-2022.jpg

Permissions

When uploading an image to southwark.gov.uk:

• ensure you have permission to use the image and that the permission is in date; if you commissioned or purchased the image, please send the license documents in with the image
• if you aren’t sure what permissions your image has, it is your responsibility to either find the permissions or arrange a replacement image with permissions
• be particularly careful if uploading an image featuring people; ensure the people in the photo have given permission for it to be published and check regularly to ensure that these permissions have not changed since the photo was taken (contact the people in the photo directly to confirm this)
• review the images regularly to ensure they have the correct copyright and permissions
• make sure you send alt text in with the image 

Alt text

Alt (alternative) text is a short text that literally and clearly describes what an image includes. It is important because not all website visitors can clearly see images. Alt text provides a description of an image that can be read by screen readers.

All images should have alt text added. 

Alt text can be added to documents using an accessibility checker such as Assist, or you can send us the alt text you'd like us to add.

• if an image is too complicated to explain using alt text (for instance a map or a complex diagram), provide short alt text and then a longer description of the image in the main body copy
• avoid using images with text; if you need to include an image with text, repeat the text somewhere nearby
• make the text meaningful - this means that users of assistive technology, or readers who haven’t downloaded images, will be able to understand the content of the image
• try describing the image to a friend, colleague or relative without them seeing it and see if they can guess what the image is of
• images and alt tags should contribute something useful to your content; if your alt text repeats a point already made in the text, or if covering the image makes no difference to the meaning of the content, consider removing the image and alt text or marking the image as decorative (images marked as decorative don’t need alt text)
• describe the image clearly and literally - use the subject and context to guide you 
• keep alt text to around 125 characters - some screen readers will stop reading at this point
• don’t write ‘this is an image of’ or ‘this picture shows’ in the alt text; just get to the point
• usually, there’s no need to include words like “image”, “icon”, or “picture” in the alt text
• use the appropriate punctuation to make it easier for people to understand the alt text and ensure it is read out correctly by the screen reader

For more information on alt tags, visit the Accessibility page.

Page last updated: 23 June 2023