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2026-05-04 02:01:08

sillyCoelophysis@hachyderm.io

When I post pictures, I try to always start the Alt Text by stating the type of image, like photo, drawing, or screenshot. A couple examples would be "A photo of a landscape..." or "A screenshot of a video game..."

How often (in what percentage of images) is this bit of context useful?

#AltText

Usually (> 80%)

0 Stimmen | 0%

Often (50-80%)

0 Stimmen | 0%

Sometimes (20-50%)

0 Stimmen | 0%

Rarely (< 20%)

0 Stimmen | 0%

Umfrage ist beendet

2026-05-04 07:13:13

Jupiter Rowland

jupiter_rowland@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

@Emily Vale, Gendermancer An image description should never start with "Photo of". See here.

Especially alt-texts should be kept short. The digital photograph is considered a default nowadays, so mentioning that an image is a digital photograph is superfluous and should be avoided.

All other media, on the other hand, should be mentioned.

#AltText #AltTextMeta #CWAltTextMeta #ImageDescription #ImageDescriptions #ImageDescriptionMeta #CWImageDescriptionMeta #FediTips #AltTextTips

2026-05-04 09:14:06

Emily Vale, Gendermancer

sillyCoelophysis@hachyderm.io

@jupiter_rowland I appreciate this feedback but have some questions. On the fediverse, I frequently see various types of images. A valid description could be "someone asking another person for directions to a building that's right behind them," but this could be a captioned photo of real people, a drawing of personified dogs, a screenshot of a specific scene in a movie or show in which this exact thing happens, or a screenshot of literally just a text chat. Of course, or could be tons of other things that still fit this description. A photo OR drawing of two boats having this "conversation," as another example.

I never include "an image of" because it's a given that it's an image, but it's not a given whether the image is a photo, drawing, 3D render, app screenshot, videogame screenshot, movie still, or even a GIF or APNG of a short clip from a TV show. This strikes me as relevant to the viewer in almost every single case.

Certainly there are times when some context could be skipped, though. If you are sharing about something your mother did for you when you were a child and you post an image captioned "my kid getting the same treatment from me that I got from my mom," it seems obvious that it's a photo of you and your child. You could leave out quite a bit of detail that's either included, or implied, in the text of your post.

2026-05-04 14:14:19

Jupiter Rowland

jupiter_rowland@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

@Emily Vale, Gendermancer As I've said, the digital photograph is the default nowadays. It's so ubiquitous that it's indeed a given unless explicitly stated not to be one. Digital photograph is the standard and should not be mentioned, all other media are exceptions and, thus, must be mentioned.

I don't know whether you've opened the link in my first comment. I always halfway expect Mastodon users to not recognise links unless they're URLs in plain sight. After all, Mastodon can only produce links with URLs in plain sight, so those who only know Mastodon may not know that something in the Fediverse can produce embedded links with the URL hidden and send them to Mastodon.

Anyway, the article that I've linked to includes links to eleven references, five of which explicitly recommend not to mention that something is a digital photograph:

#Long #LongPost #CWLong #CWLongPost #FediMeta #FediverseMeta #CWFediMeta #CWFediverseMeta #AltText #AltTextMeta #CWAltTextMeta #ImageDescription #ImageDescriptions #ImageDescriptionMeta #CWImageDescriptionMeta