Blind and Visually Impaired Community
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Do blind and visually impaired people have trouble with image macros? I have built a website that might help. (self.Blind)
submitted 8y ago by AlmostARockstar
Hi folks,
I'm not blind or visually impaired, and I don't know anybody that is, so I'm hoping you might be able to help me.
I built a $1 as an exercise in learning a new technology. It's a meme generator that uses a standard background image, and overlays plain text on top rather than embedding it into the image. There are plenty of marginal benefits to this, such as 98% reduced network traffic, but the main benefit is that each meme now has plain text accessible to screen readers or any other technology that can make use of plain text.
I'm wondering if this might be something useful to visually impaired people and if I should pursue it.
If it is indeed a possibly useful service, would anybody have any suggestions about where I could share it and how I could make it easier to use? For example, I'm considering automatically adding each meme to a subreddit which would make use of reddits ranking, comments and well known structure.
The website is here: http://www.optimeme.rugbyrivals.com
I'll buy the proper domain if it is indeed useful.
Thanks!
I'm not blind or visually impaired, and I don't know anybody that is, so I'm hoping you might be able to help me.
I built a $1 as an exercise in learning a new technology. It's a meme generator that uses a standard background image, and overlays plain text on top rather than embedding it into the image. There are plenty of marginal benefits to this, such as 98% reduced network traffic, but the main benefit is that each meme now has plain text accessible to screen readers or any other technology that can make use of plain text.
I'm wondering if this might be something useful to visually impaired people and if I should pursue it.
If it is indeed a possibly useful service, would anybody have any suggestions about where I could share it and how I could make it easier to use? For example, I'm considering automatically adding each meme to a subreddit which would make use of reddits ranking, comments and well known structure.
The website is here: http://www.optimeme.rugbyrivals.com
I'll buy the proper domain if it is indeed useful.
Thanks!
fastfinge 4 points
I'm not sure exactly what good the text would do, without a description of the associated photo. And even if the photo were described, I think funny facial expressions made by kittens and puppies are something you just have to see, to get it.
On a slightly more serious note, if I had the time and expertise, something that I think would be helpful would be a Firefox extension that can identify popular memes (perhaps by file hash or image fingerprint?) and turn the image into a link to know your meme, or somewhere similar. The meme still won't be that amusing to me, but at least when it turns up in a discussion, I can quickly get the background, and thus the poster's point.
On a slightly more serious note, if I had the time and expertise, something that I think would be helpful would be a Firefox extension that can identify popular memes (perhaps by file hash or image fingerprint?) and turn the image into a link to know your meme, or somewhere similar. The meme still won't be that amusing to me, but at least when it turns up in a discussion, I can quickly get the background, and thus the poster's point.
AlmostARockstar [OP] 1 points
I assumed the image would be something people could see once (or a small number of times) and recognise then by the title [see edit below]. So you are familiar with success kid, so if you read "success kid: top text. Bottom text" you would understand the meme. This would not work for popular pictures or any non generic image macro.
Your idea for a for a firefox extension is essentially what my website would provide, without the added necessity of complex image recognition software. If a meme were made with optimeme, you could very simply find the type of meme and the context. All embedded in the same link.
[edit: By "see" I mean, go to the trouble of magnifying the image or finding a description. It would also be really simple to include a linked description of the image.]
Your idea for a for a firefox extension is essentially what my website would provide, without the added necessity of complex image recognition software. If a meme were made with optimeme, you could very simply find the type of meme and the context. All embedded in the same link.
[edit: By "see" I mean, go to the trouble of magnifying the image or finding a description. It would also be really simple to include a linked description of the image.]
fastfinge 2 points
Yes, providing a linked description of the image would be nice; all the magnification in the world won't help me, as I have 0 vision. So the only thing I care about is the context.
Agreed, a Firefox extension is way out of the scope of your project, and I wasn't asking you to do it. But it would have the massive benefit of solving the problem for the vast majority of memes, that aren't on your website. I was just thinking generally in that paragraph.
Agreed, a Firefox extension is way out of the scope of your project, and I wasn't asking you to do it. But it would have the massive benefit of solving the problem for the vast majority of memes, that aren't on your website. I was just thinking generally in that paragraph.
bondolo 2 points
Some meme sites include the caption as alt text. This can be weird though if you don't know what the image under the text is.
Thanks for exploring more accessible ways to implement meme images.
Thanks for exploring more accessible ways to implement meme images.
AlmostARockstar [OP] 1 points
You're welcome. Any suggestions in how I might make this particular service better than the others?
geoffisblind 2 points
It's kind of difficult to do that if you have trouble seeing the image. I'm partially blind, depending on how my eyes are doing at one particular time or how easily the colors/ contrast work for me I may or may not be able to see what the picture is of. In some cases I can't determine what the content is so even if the caption is accessible, the rest of the content isn't. Maybe find a way to integrate descriptions of the picture easily? Admittedly, having friends explain what a meme is of is far less enjoyable but it's worth a shot if it's something that interests you.
AlmostARockstar [OP] 1 points
Thanks for your reply. An interesting part about the website is that the meme itself can be encoded and available to screen readers or other technology. So you could be given something like: success kid, top text, bottom text.
geoffisblind 2 points
Oh, I like that... I'm out of the house right now but when I get home I'll explore it more.
i2mo 1 points
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