Ian.BurnetteNov 23, 2022

If you're like me, then you were really happy to learn about Mastodon's enthusiastic support for image descriptions, and you were eager to join in.

Then you went to actually write something and realized you have no idea how to present visual info in a way that is helpful/enjoyable to those who are #VisuallyImpaired or #Blind.

I found this guide really informative: https://uxdesign.cc/how-to-write-an-image-description-2f30d3bf5546

Post-viral Edit: Don't forget to give the author some love on medium. They did the work!

#Accessibility

How to write an image description

I wrote this how-to guide with the immensely helpful counsel and insights from Bex Leon and Robin Fanning, as well as through an online…

Medium
Show threadBokonon_Lives

@ianburnette This was very detailed and informative - thanks for sharing this insight.

It stood out to me that for social media, the author suggested adding details to the caption and not necessarily to the image alt text. Does that mean, for example, that they prefer adding detail to the main text of a toot, tweet, etc.? Or am I misunderstanding?

For visually-impaired members of Mastodon, is it still best to use the built-in image description feature that Mastodon provides?

Nov 23, 2022 at 7:18pmWeb
Show threadIan.BurnetteNov 23, 2022

@bokonon_lives I've seen a lot of people with VI/Blindness requesting the built in alt-text/description. Keep in mind that you have a 1500 character limit for the built-in description, way more than the post text.

But again, I'm not an expert. If you want to help out just keep following #Accessibility. You can also follow # ALT4me (not using the hashtag because I don't want to pollute the feed) which people use to request an alt-text when the come across an undescribed image.

Show threadBokonon_LivesNov 24, 2022
@ianburnette Thank you!