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2026-06-25 17:33:10

linuxandyarn@hachyderm.io

Hey folks, if your #AltText just says "Drake meme" or "Padme meme" then you're basically saying "Darmok and Chas at Pimlico." A lot of people who need the alt text to tell them what's in the picture won't know wtf you mean.

2026-06-25 19:15:20

Jupiter Rowland

jupiter_rowland@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

@Rachel Rawlings When I post a meme (not here if you're curious, but on @Jupiter Rowland's (streams) outlet and @Jupiter's Fedi-Memes on (streams)), I always give both a purely visual description in the alt-text and an explanation of the image macro itself, the meme template and the topic in the message text. I have to explain the topic because it's always rather obscure. And I've got a high enough character limit to give very detailed explanations.

What would you say is the best way to give an explanation for the meme template?

A link to KnowYourMeme?
(Downside: Links are inconvenient, they open your browser when you're using a phone app, and the linked website doesn't necessarily have to be sufficiently accessible)
A full set of explanations in the message text itself?
(Downside: Inflates the post by another 10,000+ characters because the explanation of the meme template needs extra explanations itself, and these extra explanations need more explanations again)
Not at all; it is not ableist to expect people to ask if they don't understand something instead of giving tens of thousands of characters of explanation right away

#Long #LongPost #CWLong #CWLongPost #CharacterLimit #CharacterLimits #CharacterLimitMeta #CWCharacterLimitMeta #AltText #AltTextMeta #CWAltTextMeta #ImageDescription #ImageDescriptions #ImageDescriptionMeta #CWImageDescriptionMeta #Ableist #Ableism #AbleismMeta #CWAbleismMeta #A11y #Accessibility