Blind and Visually Impaired Community
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Just a question: Is it worthwhile for me to include image descriptions on my gardening blog? (self.Blind)
submitted by zappy_snapps
Hi all, I have a question for you, and I appreciate you taking the time to read it. This is definitely an area that I don't have much experience with.
TL;DR: Should I include image descriptors in a blog that focuses on houseplants?
I've run across the idea of image descriptions recently to increase accessibility, and I'm thinking of going back through all my blog posts and adding image descriptions to everything. I blog on wordpress and tumblr, and it's an image heavy blog with fairly little text. Although sometimes I do ramble.
I post mostly about house plants and gardening. I'm just wondering if it's worthwhile to describe how a plant looks because it seems like if someone who can't see has indoor plants they're probably doing it for a different reason than visual aesthetics- but that's an assumption on my part. I was thinking they'd enjoy the other parts of houseplants, like the smell of them, or the texture of their leaves or something, but I'm not sure, so I thought I'd ask.
TL;DR: Should I include image descriptors in a blog that focuses on houseplants?
I've run across the idea of image descriptions recently to increase accessibility, and I'm thinking of going back through all my blog posts and adding image descriptions to everything. I blog on wordpress and tumblr, and it's an image heavy blog with fairly little text. Although sometimes I do ramble.
I post mostly about house plants and gardening. I'm just wondering if it's worthwhile to describe how a plant looks because it seems like if someone who can't see has indoor plants they're probably doing it for a different reason than visual aesthetics- but that's an assumption on my part. I was thinking they'd enjoy the other parts of houseplants, like the smell of them, or the texture of their leaves or something, but I'm not sure, so I thought I'd ask.
DiegoARL38 12 points 4y ago
Yes, you should include them. There's always someone who will enjoy or need the kind of content that you make. If it's not an inconvenience to add description, I highly encourage you to add them. It's pretty brilliant when I find described images while navigating. It's nice to know that people actually care...
mati-6B 4 points 4y ago
yes! and many people who use descriptions can see a bit or have had some vision in the past, so visual aesthetics are definitely a primary part of descriptions.
description is a somewhat standardized thing, not super fanciful bc it's for access. so just like a ramp or other forms of access, there are some helpful guidelines to provide what is needed without "cluttering" it too much. if you google it there will be some guidelines.
description is a somewhat standardized thing, not super fanciful bc it's for access. so just like a ramp or other forms of access, there are some helpful guidelines to provide what is needed without "cluttering" it too much. if you google it there will be some guidelines.
delha4 4 points 4y ago
My boss is blind, and i frequently read to her and describe images to her and she always appreciates it.
Marconius 3 points 4y ago
Only include descriptions if the images are part of your articles. If they are purely decorative and serve no other purpose than visual filler, hide them from screen readers using the alt="" attribute in the img src HTML code. Otherwise, yes, you should absolutely add descriptions to your images. Make the descriptions count, too. Call out appropriate details within the right context of the photo, don't use language like "This is an image of..." etc. Make them robust but not paragraphs long. "A brigh green succulent plant with short, triangular, and thick green leaves in a red clay pot. The plant is sitting in the sunlight on a windowsill, lit a garden visible outside." is much much better than "A houseplant." if you were writing about indoor succulents, for example.
Amonwilde 3 points 4y ago
Think about why you have the picture. Often you'll have a picture to show a particular thing, like how luminous the leaves are or something. Write a description that fits your purpose rather than trying to describe every aspect of the image.
Laser_Lens_4 2 points 4y ago
Yes yes yes yes and yes. Describe all the images. If you're working with HTML then you can add an alt attribute to your images which screen readers will read. You can put image descriptions in there.
zappy_snapps [OP] 1 points 4y ago
Thank you for the feed back! I'm not using HTML at the moment, but putting "[image description:" followed by the description and the end bracket because that's what I read to do.
LiadanCroft 2 points 4y ago
Yes! And its helpful for everyone, my cousin loves it when images are described online because hes shy to ask others what an image looks like. Me on the other hand it helps when my internet is very slow and pics wont load. So yes its very wothwhile!
KillerLag 2 points 4y ago
Adding more detail is always good! That is especially good for someone who lives somewhere else and doesn't know what a certain plant looks like because it isn't from their area. Or they can't feel it because of needles/thorns or something.
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