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xrayagent.bsky.social
@xrayagent.bsky.social

I've got my posts set to require altxt, and the moment of irritation when I'm trying to share my bon mots with the world in a timely manner is completely worth it when I get to revisit how witty, amusing, and insightful I am, but this time in writing!

Jenny Lens, Punk Pioneers Photographer
@punkpioneers.bsky.social

I am trying to SURVIVE. You want to make more work for me??? Good way to chase ppl away. Requirements we can't post without Alt Text? Who died and made you a dictator? Arrogant narrow minded bully. Block me. Ha, I would have done it but I want you to see this. You git.🤬👎

Doctor Rubato
@doctorrubato.com

I've got a theory that we can make alt text more popular by embedding easter egg jokes only available in our own alt text. Is this clever, or an abuse of the feature? bsky.app/profile/doct...

Doctor Rubato@doctorrubato.com

How do I know the rapture isn't happening tomorrow? Cause, JFC, it already happened. About a thousand years ago. Nobody noticed, because everyone who was convinced they were going was left behind. Only took about 5 guys living in caves, who nobody missed. Oh, and all the unicorns.

Wolfmanning Skull 🎃
@manningkrull.bsky.social

Good question! As long as the first thing in the alt text is the real description -- so users who can't see the image can know exactly what it is -- then any extras on top of that are great! Whether it's a joke or additional fascinating information or whatever, there's no harm is adding more stuff.

Wolfmanning Skull 🎃
@manningkrull.bsky.social

Some artists, for example, add TONS of extra alt text, going into a crazy amount of detail and maybe giving some insight into their creative process, or their feelings about the piece, or even explaining any subtle references in the piece; all of that is fantastic.

Doctor Rubato
@doctorrubato.com

I agree, the real description must be there. For example, the alt text that came with that GIF was pretty crappy, so I fluffed it out as well as adding the smartass comments.

Doctor Rubato
@doctorrubato.com

What are your thoughts on other things we should do to make our posts more accessible? I don't think bsky supports captioning for videos, but at least you can link to YouTube, which does. Guidelines for colorblind readers or for the older crowd who can't make out the details on your fav emoji?

Wolfmanning Skull 🎃
@manningkrull.bsky.social

Great questions! Bluesky actually does allow users to include alt text/captions for videos. They're not visible to us the way we can see alt text for images/gifs, but the text is recognized by screen reader software that's used by people with visual impairments. (1/x)

Wolfmanning Skull 🎃
@manningkrull.bsky.social

Considering users who are colorblind: We should try to share images with high contrast. However, that may be a difficult thing to determine for someone who's not a graphics person or an accessibility pro. Luckily, including good alt text also makes this problem more or less negligible! (2/x)

meateatermeteor
@meateatermeteor.bsky.social

As a deuteranope, I’d say posting high contrast images isn’t worth the huge effort on your part, considering the improvement would be almost certainly imperceptible (or at least unnoticed) on my end. 😄

Wolfmanning Skull 🎃
@manningkrull.bsky.social

For older folks, as well as various people with low vision, etc, it's best if we don't share images containing tiny text, but, again, including good alt text greatly mitigates this. And these days hopefully most users know they can zoom their browser. (3/x)

Doctor Rubato
@doctorrubato.com

I consider subtitles and captioning for video to support hearing impaired viewers, so alt text doesn't help with that. I use it on my music videos. Also allows viewers to watch with sound turned, which I do lots. Also, allows someone to see lyrics.

Wolfmanning Skull 🎃
@manningkrull.bsky.social

You're right, I forgot closed captions for people who are hearing impaired; this is definitely an ADA requirement in the US and an EEA requirement in Europe so it's crazy that there are social/website platforms that don't support it by default.