Blind and Visually Impaired Community
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What is the best way to write alt text for images containing text? (self.Blind)
submitted by Rosieisla
Hello everyone!
I run a midly successful meme page on Instagram, where they introduced an alt text feature a few months ago. I didn't want to use it at first, because I thought it wasn't necessary, but I realized that, what with the fact that I have over twelve thousand followers now, it might be a good idea.
The thing is, though: I don't post photos. I mainly just repost tumblr and twitter content, which is almost always in plain text and I don't know how best to describe it. I've taken to describing posts along the format of "tumblr post by" followed by a username and the text.
Is that enough, or am I missing things?
I know screen readers rely on punctuation and, the internet being what it is, the posts themselves usually don't have any. Would adding punctuation help make it more accessible?
Also, should I be using quotation marks (eg: post by username: "hello" with reply by username: "hello!") or does that make it more confusing?
I run a midly successful meme page on Instagram, where they introduced an alt text feature a few months ago. I didn't want to use it at first, because I thought it wasn't necessary, but I realized that, what with the fact that I have over twelve thousand followers now, it might be a good idea.
The thing is, though: I don't post photos. I mainly just repost tumblr and twitter content, which is almost always in plain text and I don't know how best to describe it. I've taken to describing posts along the format of "tumblr post by" followed by a username and the text.
Is that enough, or am I missing things?
I know screen readers rely on punctuation and, the internet being what it is, the posts themselves usually don't have any. Would adding punctuation help make it more accessible?
Also, should I be using quotation marks (eg: post by username: "hello" with reply by username: "hello!") or does that make it more confusing?
retrolental_morose 3 points 4y ago
By far the most important part is the text. Stick with what your doing, as long as a blind person can get at the text I'd say they're happy.
Facebook does some automation on text-based images now, it's great to be more included.
Facebook does some automation on text-based images now, it's great to be more included.
Rosieisla [OP] 1 points 4y ago
Thank you!
SLJ7 1 points 4y ago
What you're doing sounds great to me. I don't think you need to worry too much about how to format the username and source; people will figure it out. If the alt-text feature supports newlines, you could do something like...
First line: Twitter repost from @person123:
Second line: <text>
First line: Twitter repost from @person123:
Second line: <text>
Rosieisla [OP] 1 points 4y ago
What I've been doing is almost exactly that.
For tweets, first line: Tweet/thread by name (@handle):
Second line: text
For tumblr posts, it's much the same. First line: Post by username:
Second line: text
(For tumblr replies, I just do "reply by username" and same goes for twitter threads.)
For tweets, first line: Tweet/thread by name (@handle):
Second line: text
For tumblr posts, it's much the same. First line: Post by username:
Second line: text
(For tumblr replies, I just do "reply by username" and same goes for twitter threads.)
ENTJ351 1 points 4y ago
I think you are fine. when you do need to use alt tags is when you post images and pictures but otherwise you don’t. I guess if there is a picture in the tweet then describe it.
Woman dressed in red riding a skateboard with a dog. Hahaha! Okay. Not actually that but whatever it is you can get more or less detailed. I would think more details is better than less.
Woman dressed in red riding a skateboard with a dog. Hahaha! Okay. Not actually that but whatever it is you can get more or less detailed. I would think more details is better than less.
Rosieisla [OP] 1 points 4y ago
Thank you!
ENTJ351 1 points 4y ago
Not a problem at all. If you have any questions please do ask. Would love to help.
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