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Media Description Black-and-white portrait photograph of Julia Emory, a white woman who wears a fur coat and veiled hat. She is pointing to a pin on her lapel in the shape of a prison cell gate.

2023-09-02 14:20:03

iDGS@mas.to

FWIW, Even though I’m not (yet?) blind or visually impaired, I like to read ALT text.

Sometimes you get awesome prose, sometimes you learn stuff, and *sometimes* you get extra, bonus information!

ALT text is not a chore.

ALT text is enrichment.

ALT text is an opportunity!

#accessibility #ALT

For example, I would have otherwise missed something important in this photo: https://historians.social/@emmanuel/110994996306520188

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2023-10-06 13:36:31

David G. Smith

iDGS@mas.to

@jupiter_rowland ?@Gargron @feditips ??‍♂️

2023-10-06 13:45:42

FediTips has moved!

feditips@mstdn.social

@iDGS @jupiter_rowland @Gargron

I've never heard blind users telling me that alt text was inaccessible? Screen reader software normally looks at alt text.

Also, Mastodon's text limit can be increased by admins either directly through file editing or through use of forks like Glitch.

2023-10-06 14:18:11

Jupiter Rowland

jupiter_rowland@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

@Fedi.Tips

I've never heard blind users telling me that alt text was inaccessible? Screen reader software normally looks at alt text.

I wasn't talking about blind or visually-impaired users.

I was talking about sighted users who would have been interested in the extra information provided in the alt-text, but who can't because they've got a motoric disability (e.g. some tremor) that renders them incapable of moving a mouse cursor precisely and steadily enough.

Image descriptions are not only useful for blind users.

Also, Mastodon's text limit can be increased by admins either directly through file editing or through use of forks like Glitch.

Yes. Mastodon requires you to either hack the installed sources which amounts to creating your own fork or use a ready-made fork.

Almost everything else has the post character limit as a configurable setting on the admin UI. If there's a character limit at all.

And actually everything else already has a default character limit that's staggeringly high from a Mastodon user's POV.

You don't have to hack Firefish to get over 500 characters. You start with 3,000 characters by default, and more are an admin setting away. Akkoma: same, but starting at 5,000 characters.