Just a reminder, please do add alt text descriptions to your images, videos and audio clips. It will make them accessible to people with visual or hearing impairment.
You'll also get a lot more boosts if you add descriptions, because a lot of people only share posts that have descriptions.
If you forget, don't worry, you can edit your post afterwards to add it 👍
It can take a while to get into the habit, so there's a bot to help you remember at @PleaseCaption
@feditips Even more posts are unreadable because the language setting is wrong or missing and therefore no translation gets offered.
@feditips @PleaseCaption Hi, I've just posted from my Linux machine using the Whalebird app. It doesn't appear to have an ALT description feature for some reason. I'm looking around for it but there is nothing obvious I can see. In the meantime I have edited the post using the Tusky app to add the description on my android phone :) I might have to find a Whalebird alternative if I can't find the feature... It must be 'somewhere'! I keep looking.
@feditips Is there a way to locate an individual post that doesn’t have it. There one post I forgot to add it to and I did before they changed it so you can edit an image to add it afterwards. I’d love to go back and make it so that 100% of my image posts have a description.
I suspect the answer will be no, but you don’t know if you don’t ask.
As I've said, what's missing is the mechanism that can read an alt text label FROM an image. The 'reminder' should include
"please remind the JPEG and PNG standards bodies that this mechanism is sorely lacking"
and to the Browser and Image Editor communities, "please implement this new standard."
Then the composer of an image only needs add the alt text once, at the time of creation, and can always add it later.
@feditips @PleaseCaption well, I was trying. The vast majority of my alt texts are some phrases from the post itself, shortened and out of the context. And contrary to normal text, it is hard to get access to them from the regular interface "for non-blind people" if I want to, and I found no way how to subject them to auto translation. So for the sake of what??
@feditips I am wondering why is it so much of a concern here and not every other website? I am just curious. There was even a case of people annoying an actually blind guy to add alt text once. Is there data to show more people using readers her than any other site or are people just more kind and caring and worrying about including everyone?
@feditips @PleaseCaption Trying to add descriptive text always, but how deep one needs to go? Do you describe the main focus of image, or also describe what is in the background, etc. to have all of the items in the frame fully covered?
@feditips @PleaseCaption I would If I had the ability to describe things in this language
It would help to have a bot capable of doing this to help
@feditips @PleaseCaption @cordeliane And also, everyone please use #CamelCaseHashtags! Capitalize each word in the hashtag because screen readers for the visually impaired #cannotmakesenseofwhatthismeansnorcanitreadoutloud
(Plus,#CamelCase is just easier to parse!)
@feditips @PleaseCaption I try as much as I can but the language barrier is an obstacle many times. I guess a imperfect caption might be better that no caption.
@feditips @PleaseCaption@botsin.space alt text. this time. every time. all the time.
