Alt Text for Images?

Tue, 29 Aug 2023 01:20:13 +0200

adminsforum@hubzilla.org

Ivan Saltz schrieb den folgenden Beitrag Tue, 29 Aug 2023 01:19:58 +0200

Alt Text for Images?

I looked in the documentation but can't find the answer. The larger Fediverse really wants picture to have alt text for users who have eyesight issues. Since alt text can be converted to speech, it is more inclusive.

On hubzilla, I don't see how to add alt text to an image in my post - [zmg] or [img].

Does anyone know the answer to this?

show all 8 comments

Tue, 29 Aug 2023 07:55:57 +0200

Jupiter Rowland

jupiter_rowland@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

The BBcode you get when inserting an image is like so:

[zrl=<Image size>]<Image URL>[/zrl]

The first thing you do is cut the image URL out and paste it into the [zrl=] tag, replacing the image size. The image size is not only unnecessary, but it actually degrades the quality of your image.

Cut...
[zrl=<Image size>][/zrl]

...and paste.
[zrl=<Image URL>][/zrl]

Then you put the alt-text between the [zrl=] tag and the [/zrl] tag.

[zrl=<Image URL>]<Alt text>[/zrl]

Be careful: In theory, the maximum length for #AltText on #Hubzilla is unlimited because the maximum length for posts is unlimited. But Hubzilla's Web frontend can't show more than maybe the first 2500-2700 characters, and any attempt at scrolling it will make it disappear. Other projects like #Mastodon, #Misskey and #Firefish will cut longer alt-texts off at the 1500-character mark.

Tue, 29 Aug 2023 08:57:44 +0200

Alexander Goeres

jabgoe2089@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

some guy missing his toupet standing in front of a rocket

just a test

Wed, 30 Aug 2023 08:13:56 +0200

Jupiter Rowland

jupiter_rowland@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

Is this image supposted to have an alt-text? I can't see one.

Wed, 30 Aug 2023 11:02:14 +0200

Harald Eilertsen

harald@hub.volse.no

@Alexander Goeres
You want to put the alt text between the tags, and the url in the opening tag. Like this:

[img=https://cdn.prod.www.spiegel.de/images/e2cc7225-eb83-4769-9bc2-68f21f3e7090_w699_r1.778_fpx23.78_fpy50.97.webp]some guy missing his toupet standing in front of a rocket[/img]

Thu, 31 Aug 2023 09:38:14 +0200

Alexander Goeres

jabgoe2089@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

@Jupiter Rowland well, the test failed ..

@Harald Eilertsen yeah, thanks a lot! i hope i'll remember this next time ... :-)

Thu, 31 Aug 2023 18:56:32 +0200

Harald Eilertsen

harald@hub.volse.no

@Alexander Goeres We should probably change the default for the inserted markup... If it isn't changed already? I seem to remember it does the right thing, at least when inserting existing images from the photo app.

A dialog that allowed specifying the alt text would be nice though. So people wouldn't have to mess with the markup at all. (Unless they want to, of course.)

Fri, 01 Sep 2023 03:51:53 +0200

Ivan Saltz

sirlaffalot@commonworlds.org

A dialog that allowed specifying the alt text would be nice though. So people wouldn't have to mess with the markup at all. (Unless they want to, of course.)

+1 for this idea

Thu, 07 Sep 2023 21:28:05 +0200

tallship

tallship@zotum.net

@Jupiter Rowland

That's fantastic [undocumented] info on the 1500/2500/2700 character cutoffs. Big questions people have and also without any obvious way to reference w/o addressing it in forums instead of w/a hint or even an easy to find KB for regular (n0rmie?) users.

Anyway, the bad part, is glaring: Obviously [unintentionally] hostile to the #n0rmie / #n00b users just trying to share a post containing a pic - this simply isn't what any regular Social Networking user would either expect or further, should be expected to be adept at. Just in this thread there are multiple suggestions as to how one should properly attend to this matter - it's much easier to just forgo the Alt tag altogether.... or forgo considering Hubzilla as a platform "because it's not intuitive or accommodating the basic functions [n0rmie] people expect.

In the meantime, it's functionally adequate for those of us not numbering among the very people we're trying to target for adoption of the platforms (this and others) in the #Fediverse... And that's not actually acceptable to those people we're trying to coax on over - nor should we consider it acceptable to just figure it's good enough because we can simply add the alt text in the tag.

Considering that InstaSPAM is so popular in the deprecated, privacy disrespecting, monolithic silo space; and also evidenced by the sheer number of graphics uploaded in posts on other silo platforms like Faceplant or Twitter or Reddit, Etc., it should be a no brainer that @Ivan Saltz 's suggestion be of a First Order Priority.

I can't believe that this has been going on for this long and it just gets passed of by the thinking, "Oh, I'll just take a moment to enter the tag manually real quick" - even #uber_geeks aren't performing this extra inconvenience most of the time. Where it really shows, and this is a VERY BAD LOOK, is when people elsewhere in the Fediverse go to boost these posts containing images w/o alt tags.... Their Android clients respond with stark, alarming warnings that appear severe, asking them, "ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO BOOST THIS? There's no text for accessibility included"

Definitely NOT a good look for us, and I have zero confidence that this is going to be addressed anytime soon either - The complaint/question has been raised dozens of times already with pretty much the same answers: "Oh, here's the 'code' you need to edit for that to occur"..

It's a very good thing that we have the options of editing and working directly where our Markdown, BBCode, and HTML is concerned, but all of those things really are secondary to the notion - NO, the Duty, of accommodating the masses of people who want social media to just work like the #Faceplant and #InstaSPAM platforms they currently use, and as they will continue to expect.

It's not really even acceptable to do what the other major Fediverse platforms are doing, by making Alt text something you have to know that you can add, by hovering over or long-pressing or clicking on the uploaded image to affect the addition of Alt text through an additional, or often a distinct and separate, action from uploading the pic for a post - even oldschool forumware has that (Alt Text) field up front and center as part of your upload dialog when choosing a photo to attach to your posts....

I'm just sayin', this is something that we need to really address - not even consider addressing, but actually address with a solution for the normies - and #Fediverse clients are becoming increasingly hostile towards boosting posts that fail to include alt-text too.

Just my 2 cents :) I hope that helps!

#tallship #FOSS #hubzilla #images #alt_text #n0rmies