Atticus automatically removes certain characters from alt text — including straight quotes ("), angle brackets (< >), and a few special symbols — to help prevent export errors and improve accessibility.
These characters can cause issues with ePub validation or be misread by screen readers, sometimes resulting in broken or unreadable content. To make sure your book is accessible and passes all necessary checks, we strip those characters out before export.
We recommend rewriting alt text so that special characters aren’t necessary to convey the meaning. In most cases, this results in clearer, more effective descriptions for screen reader users.
If you have any more questions about adding or writing effective alt text, we recommend checking out these helpful tutorials:
These guides provide detailed instructions and best practices to help you make your books as accessible as possible. If you need further assistance, don’t hesitate to reach out — we’re here to help!