If your community uses the Photos feature on Ning, you might not realize that by default, your photo titles aren’t being used as ALT text in the <img> tags on your site.
That’s a missed opportunity — for both accessibility and SEO.
Let’s fix that today with a tiny bit of code you can add directly in your Custom Code section.
💡 Why ALT Text Matters
Accessibility: Screen readers use ALT text to describe images for visually impaired visitors. Without it, users relying on assistive tech hear “image” and nothing more.
SEO Boost: Google and other search engines read ALT text to understand what’s in your images. It helps your photos (and your site!) show up in search results.
Backup Descriptions: If an image fails to load, ALT text provides context so the page still makes sense.
Your members already write meaningful titles for their photos — so why not automatically use those as ALT tags?
⚙️ How to Add This to Your Ning Site
This works for Ning 2.0 and Ning 3.0 sites alike.
Go to your Dashboard → Design Studio → Custom Code (or My Network → Custom Code on Ning 2.0).
Scroll down to “End of Page (Before
</body>)".Paste in the script below.
Click Save and refresh your
/photopage.
🧩 Code Snippet: Automatically Use Photo Titles as ALT Text
🧠 Optional Upgrade: Dynamic or Infinite Scroll Galleries If your photo pages load more images as you scroll, use this version instead — it keeps watching for new photos and applies ALT text automatically:
🔍 How to Test Go to any photo gallery page on your Ning site. Right-click → “Inspect” → select an tag. You should see something like:
❤️ Why This Helps the Whole Community
This simple change makes your Ning network more accessible, more search-friendly, and more professional — all in one step.
It also sets a great example for other Creators who want to make their communities more inclusive and visible online.
🧭 Example in Action
You can see this script live on Land Surveyors United, a global community for land surveyors.
Every photo uploaded now automatically carries its title as ALT text — helping search engines understand the content while making the gallery accessible for everyone.
💬 Have questions or improvements? Drop a comment below — let’s make our Ning communities not just engaging, but inclusive and optimized too!
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Replies
On your step 3 where you say "Paste in the script below", I'm not finding that. Did you forget to put it in there or am I missing something?