But while typing out the alt text, it just feels too long?

I'm torn between writing what feels like way too much description, but also allowing vision impaired people to have the same experience as somebody who can actually see the screenshot.

My issue: Somebody able to see the screenshot can quickly scan it and get the gist, or read every one of the special features to get a feel for what they really mean. But I feel like I can't provide the same in alt text?

2/3

#accessibility #altText

What's the right approach here? Starting out with giving two examples for two of the features, and then noting that I will describe the rest now, but that they can also be skipped as their details aren't relevant to the blog post?

3/3

#Accessibility #AltText

@publicdomainrev

#alttext

Portrait of Frederick Douglass, young, clean shaven, and very serious looking.

There should be an award for the best alt text of the month. Or the year.

#AltText #award

Amplifying some drama I was just in to broadcast a point

#altText is the topic

My point:

1. If someone doesn't use alt text, we help them, we cheerfully engage them

In some instances they are an asshole who still won't use alt text

If not, we won a convert

2. Meanwhile, nastiness certainly won't convince the asshole

*And nastiness will drive away those who would have responded positively if only we were nice about it*

Drama, drama, drama... always drama on the #Fediverse and #Mastodon

Alt...

an image of html the html is <img src="pizza.png" alt="slice of pizza on a plate"> the alt attribute is highlighted with a bracket to indicate "alt text"

#alttext for comics books: can I just write my alt text for a comic like telling the tale around a campfire, since describing every picture is tedious and not the way oral stories are delivered?

@Tutanota

#alttext

A safer internet IS MADE BY
Encryption
Privacy
Open source

A safer internet is NOT MADE BY
Age verification
Scanning communication
Tracking & data collection

#SAFERINTERNETDAY

@publicdomainrev

#alttext

Image 1:

A bullet shaped capsule spews exhaust against a backdrop of stars with the moon partially visible at the top of the image.

Image 2:

A woman's body with a planet or moon for a head floats against a backdrop of stars with her arms crossed against her chest.

Great #AltText 👏 👏 👏

https://mastodon.art/@clipart/116024819020991455

It's time to move on from Social being almost all about #Trump #GOP #USPol hashtags and consuming life in that way...

Although some is needed, we're not #building each other up or #developing internally by spending #time there...

Just seeing people's timeline full of that stuff and even spinning more their stuff and "their web" while we're stuck and stunting in our own #web and social growth (which is whatever you like and love more than bashing Trump or #Musk)... right?

You have something better to do...?

(waves hand vigorously)

Picture #AltText #FreeSchool
"Too much trump time.
Venting comments as a mass
is not always social growth."

Alt...

"Too much trump time. Venting comments as a mass is not always social growth."

@ceoln Few #quotes from your link: https://ceoln.wordpress.com/2026/01/31/a-little-information-archaeology/

➡️ “I used to think of the world as layers of power, layers of power stacked above me. The town, the county, the crown, the bankers and brokers and multinationals, the shadowy organizations behind and above them.”

➡️ “And I felt smothered by them, smothered! Unable to move, or breathe, resenting all that piled above me, weighing me down.”

hashtags: #power #state #country #crown #bankers #brokers #organizations #FreeSchool

#AltText picture = Onion Layers representing power - a half cut onion showing the rings in rings inside or layers inside layers.

Alt...

Onion Layers representing power - a half cut onion showing the rings in rings inside or layers inside layers.

"This isn't the squirrel you're looking for."

"This isn't the squirrel I'm looking for."

"This squirrel can go about its business."

"You can go about your business."

"Move along."

"Move along...move along."

#PhotoHour #theforce #wildlife #WildlifePhotography #nature #photography #AltText

Alt...

Photograph of a gray squirrel standing upright on a tree branch with a heavily textured tree trunk to its left and an out of focus heavily textured tree branch covered in green lichen and a gray overcast sky in the background The squirrel is facing the camera with its left paw grasping a small branch to its left and its right paw held horizontal in front of it. Gray squirrels have grey and brown fur with white abdomen and chest fur, a long bushy tail, a triangular head with dark eyes, proportionally large ears, a typical rodent muzzle, long, black whiskers, hand-like fore paws, and claws that allow the squirrel to cling to vertical surfaces.

@rl_dane

#AltText is one of the few things I push to AI. I have a pre-typed prompt and just dump the photo into it, and then adjust for sanity.

@alatartheblue

Noice!!

Also, peak #AltText game!!

This is what happens when you let AI run civilization.

#RetroGaming #NES #AI #AltText

Alt...

A screenshot from the NES game Power Blade that shows a cityscape with plumes of smoke rising from it. There’s a caption that reads: Then one day, something went wrong with the master control program. Chais ensued as people panicked.

@jupiter_rowland Which is a shame because I would love to share these posts, however I am not going to share a post that doesn't have #alttext.

@rbreich Please provide #alttext

@eyesquash found my notes from the #tinyHabits #book

Hoping these diagrams can help...

Let me know if more #altText is needed as it may take more than a few hours to transcribe #AltForMe

p.s. another theme of the book is to never rely on the "motivation monkey" as they are unreliable

p.p.s. sometimes looking through your own or others' music and recordings can spark intention as well

Alt...

Anatomy of tiny habits: Anchor Behavior Celebration

Alt...

How To Make a Behaviour Easier To Do

Alt...

Behaviour Change Masterplan (Starting)

Alt...

Stopping

Digital shaded rendering of the main building of the Universal Campus, a downloadable island location for 3-D virtual worlds based on OpenSimulator. The camera position is about three metres or ten feet above the ground. The camera is tilted slightly upward and rotated slightly to the left from the building's longitudinal axis. The futuristic building is over 200 metres long, stretching far into the distance, and its front is about 50 metres wide. Its structure is mostly textured to resemble brushed stainless steel, and almost everything in-between is grey tinted glass. The main entrance of the building in the middle of the front has two pairs of glass doors. They are surrounded by a massive complex geometrical structure, very roughly reminiscent of a vintage video game spacecraft with the front facing upward. Four huge cylindrical pillars carry the roof end, the outer two of which extend beyond it. All are tilted away from the landing area in front of the building and at the same time outward to the sides. The sides of the building are slightly tilted themselves. In the distance, a large geodesic dome rises from the building. There is a large circular area in front of the main entrance as well as several wide paths. They have light concrete textures, and they are lined with low walls with almost white concrete textures. Furthermore, various shrubs and trees decorate the scenery. A more detailed description including explanations and text transcripts can be found in the post.

(4/6)

#Long #LongPost #CWLong #CWLongPost #AltText #AltTextMeta #CWAltTextMeta #ImageDescription #ImageDescriptions #ImageDescriptionMeta #CWImageDescriptionMeta

This is the image I'm talking about: https://hub.netzgemeinde.eu/photos/jupiter_rowland/image/b1e7bf9c-07d8-45b6-90bb-f43e27199295 (linked instead of embedded so I don't have to go through the hassle of having to describe it right here right now).

This is the thread in which I've posted the image before, including image descriptions, also including a comment with the AI description and an analysis of the AI description in comparison with my own descriptions: https://hub.netzgemeinde.eu/item/f8ac991d-b64b-4290-be69-28feb51ba2a7 (yes, this is part of the Fediverse; it's on the same Hubzilla channel that I'm commenting from right now).

(2/6)

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

However, I'm always at an unfair advantage. My images are renderings from very obscure 3-D virtual worlds. LLMs know next to nothing or actually nothing about these worlds whereas I dare say I'm an expert on them. An AI couldn't even tell whether the image is from a game or from a virtual world, much less which virtual world. I can not only exactly pinpoint where the image was taken (which place on which sim in which grid), but also explain the location and these virtual worlds in general.

Besides, an AI would describe the image by examining the image. I describe my images by going in-world and looking at the real deal instead of at the image of it. I can see everything at a vastly higher resolution. I can transcribe text that is so tiny in the image that it's invisible. I can even look around obstacles and see what's behind them if necessary. No LLM AI can do any of this.

(1/6)

#Long #LongPost #CWLong #CWLongPost #AltText #AltTextMeta #CWAltTextMeta #ImageDescription #ImageDescriptions #ImageDescriptionMeta #CWImageDescriptionMeta #AI #AIVsHuman #HumanVsAI

Inventory of the stickers I collected at #39c3. Some go on my laptop, some into my collection, some for my children to play with and the rest to various sticker drops

Please help me add altText, if you spot a sticker that there is no altText for, or if you have a different description, please add it in the replies and I'll update the #altText

#ALT4me

Alt...

Various stickers, including: * LGBTQ+ stickers ** Trans flags ** NB flag ** BI flag ** Pride progress flag ** United we fight. Together we care * 1312 assessing enemies * MIGRANTIFA * SOLIDARITY * FCK AFD * For rectal use only * 3d glasses (red/blue) ** LIBRE/OPEN ** ERROR/TRIAL ** PUSH/PULL * Chaos Amsterdam * various antifa stickers and more. Add any you feel I missed in the replies and I'll update the description

@rbreich Please consider adding #AltText. Without it I am not able to boost (share) your post to people with visual impediments.

Accessibility poll for people who use screen readers for daily use. I’m writing a guide about alt text.

🧵 Poll 2 of 2:

I’d like your opinion about long description methods for complex images. What is your preferred approach? (Feel free to comment if you want to elaborate.)

Please boost for reach. 🙌🏻

#Accessibility #A11y #ScreenReaders #AltText #WCAG #UI #FrontEnd

Accessibility poll for people who use screen readers for daily use. I’m writing a guide about alt text.

🧵 Poll 1 of 2:

I’d like your opinion about alt-text length for simple images. How long should it be? (Feel free to comment if you want to elaborate.)

Please boost for reach. 🙌🏻

#Accessibility #A11y #ScreenReaders #AltText #WCAG #UI #FrontEnd

Someone at the travel stop drives a really cool hearse. I had to take some pictures because seriously it's a cool hearse.

#AltText

Alt...

The windshield of a blue hearse that says DEAD SLED.

Alt...

The rear window of a blue hearse that says LAST RESPONDER. The bottom left of the window says Of Course I drive a hearse. The center is a row of coffins and below the window is a silver skull.

This makes me wonder how they would react if I gave them an unsolicited lecture on never adding explanations or other exclusive information to an alt-text and generally never writing around their character limits in alt-text. Or why line breaks and the quotation marks on your keyboard must never be used in alt-text.

As of late, people would rather lash out against me if I did that.

(@Mastodon users: If it has a different colour than the rest of the text, it's a link. Even if it isn't a URL in plain sight.)

#Long #LongPost #CWLong #CWLongPost #FediMeta #FediverseMeta #CWFediMeta #CWFediverseMeta #AltText #AltTextMeta #CWAltTextMeta

You don't have to describe every little detail, just the important ones to the topic at hand.

Also, to quote @Celine warns of Idiocracy:

And, I am imagining what I would like to know about a picture, if I couldn't see it.

What if, on top of it all, the image shows something that may make people so super curious that they want to know everything about it? And what if, at the same time, what the image shows is so super obscure that nobody knows what anything in the image looks like because nobody has ever seen any of it ever before?

Because that's pretty much standard for me. For I don't post real-life photos. I post renderings from 3-D virtual worlds that not even one out of 200,000 Fediverse users has heard of.

Here are some examples of images that I've actually posted into the Fediverse from this very channel that I'm replying from right now. These links don't take you to the posts so you don't have to wade through 60,000+ or 70,000+ characters each. They only take you to the image files and where they are stored in my file space.

https://hub.netzgemeinde.eu/photos/jupiter_rowland/image/a747d202-e2a9-482b-a6f1-a7a6992c9fd8

https://hub.netzgemeinde.eu/photos/jupiter_rowland/image/477ad45f-6bfc-4ac2-b552-639fd049a344

https://hub.netzgemeinde.eu/photos/jupiter_rowland/image/52514d5d-7608-4828-80e0-adbea862b2f7

https://hub.netzgemeinde.eu/photos/jupiter_rowland/image/b1e7bf9c-07d8-45b6-90bb-f43e27199295

(Apologies for the lack of image descriptions there. These pages are not meant to be directly presented to an audience; besides, unlike posts, they don't federate to other people's timelines. But rest assured, I have described them all, and I've described them at levels of detail that probably even you couldn't possibly imagine. If you want to read the descriptions, ask, and I'll provide you with links to the posts with these images in them. Just be warned: The descriptions of the first three images are very outdated by my current standards, and the description of the fourth image is still somewhat outdated.)

CC: @Dgar

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

Poll only for #Blind/LowVision users who rely on #AltText. Is AltText generated with an LLM actually “better than nothing” as some argue? Please comment if you’re Blind or Low Vision, and please boost to get a good sample.

@publicdomainrev if anything needed #alttext this does

You want me to explain them? So that you understand them, no matter how super-obscure it is that they show?

Do you? Yes?

Then don't complain when I post tens of thousands of characters.

(Intentionally not CW'd.)

#FediMeta #FediverseMeta #CWFediMeta #CWFediverseMeta #AltText #AltTextMeta #CWAltTextMeta #ImageDescription #ImageDescriptions #ImageDescriptionMeta #CWImageDescriptionMeta

Do you? Yes?

Then don't complain when I come and give you unsolicited advice on how to do it right when you do it wrong.

(Intentionally not CW'd.)

#FediMeta #FediverseMeta #CWFediMeta #CWFediverseMeta #AltText #AltTextMeta #CWAltTextMeta