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#image descriptions
frankiensteinsmonster · 6 months
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People in this demographic, please let me know how to tag to get a hold of you as someone who doesn't need Image Descriptions!!
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describe-things · 3 months
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This post is made with speech to text because my hand hurts from typing so much today. Please forgive any typos or speech to text swapping similar sounding words.
If you would like to start writing your own image descriptions, feel free to ask any questions.
The main things to keep in mind is that they should begin with some variation of image description start or ID, and end with some variation of image description and, and ID or something like that. This distinguish the image description from the caption or anything else.
Image descriptions should not be written in italics, bold, all caps, or any colors. If text in the image is in all caps, write it in regular case, and simply note before or after it that it's in all caps.
Image descriptions should describe all images in the post, without skipping any. This includes images that are nothing but text.
Plain text image descriptions in the body of the post are more accessible than alt text alone, because many people who need image descriptions cannot use alt text, and Tumblr is known for its glitches, so the accessibility of the alt text all by itself varies widely over time.
It is more accessible to have the image descriptions indented than not, because this helps to visually separate the image description from the caption. Having brackets or parentheses at the end is also helpful for this. This allows people to easily distinguish between the caption and the image description if they need to.
If you are an artist, writing image descriptions for your art will give you full control over the image description, and will allow you to correctly identify details that others might miss. This gives you the opportunity to show which parts of your art hold meaning to you and are important to notice.
If you are describing real people who are unknown to you, unless it is specified within the post or you are already aware, please do not assign any gendered terms to them, or any " male presenting or female presenting" terms like that. This is completely unnecessary and leads to misgendering. It is best to simply describe visible facts about the people. Hair color, length, clothes and style, pose, expression, the light or darkness of their skin, things like that. Do not assume that someone is white simply because they have light skin.
Do not use image descriptions to lie to the audience in any way and do not use image descriptions to make jokes where the audience reading the image description is the butt of the joke.
As an example, if there is a very clearly fake screenshot, do not say that it is simply a screenshot, or if a photo is very blatantly photoshopped, do not say that it is simply a photo. Say an edited photo, a badly edited photo, a screenshot with editing, something like that to indicate the changes have been made and then what you are going to be describing is not the natural version.
As an example, you would say a crab photoshopped to be driving a car. Rather than a photo of a crab driving a car.
Unless you are transcribing a text within the image, do not use meme speak within image descriptions. Do not refer to dogs as doggos for example, unless it is to specify that the dog in the image is, within the image, labeled as a doggo. Do not describe someone walking downstairs as breasted bubbly downstairs, even if it is an actor humorously walking down the stairs to imitate that sentence. Describe the facts of the movements, and then you can make the comparison for clarity.
If someone adds an image description to your post whether this be an original post or a reblog that you have added an image to, it doesn't matter how many notes to post already has, please copy and paste that image description into the original post or your original reblog. If it is a new post that has only a few notes from friends, after you update the original, you can just ask your friends to delete the reblogs of the inaccessible version and reblog the new one. Most people who are good people and care about disabled people will happily do so.
Keep in mind that image descriptions are accessibility tools. Treat them as such.
Anyone can write image descriptions. You do not need any special qualifications or training. As long as you are willing to take constructive criticism if you make a mistake, an image description written by someone who's new to it and honestly doing their best with good intentions is better than no image description at all.
I'm sure I'm forgetting some things, so please feel free to add on more tips and advice.
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anistarrose · 2 months
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[ID: an edited XKCD comic. One stick figure tells another: "Online accessibility is second nature to us disabled bloggers, so it's easy to forget that the average person probably only knows closed captioning and one or two trigger tags."
The second figure replies: "And IDs, of course." The first figure concurs: "Of course."
The caption reads: "Even when they're trying to compensate for it, experts in anything wildly overestimate the average person's familiarity with their field." End ID.]
Why to write Image Descriptions / Compilation post for ID guides and resources / Guide to tagging for flashing and eyestrain
note: were it not the meme format, I wouldn't actually use the phrase "second nature" here, because learning about accessibility (and unlearning ableist frameworks that don't prioritize accessibility) are still processes, not intuition, even for other disabled folks!
I'm disabled myself, yet I didn't join social media or fandom just automatically knowing these things — which means that no matter where you're starting from, you can learn something that makes a difference too!
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keplercryptids · 1 year
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hey general public, just checking. would you put an unusable cardboard ramp outside a building with stairs, with a sign on it that says “lol just kidding”? no?? that would actually be a very mean thing to do, yeah?? then stop fucking using image alt text and video captioning to tell your dumb jokes.
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cy-cyborg · 6 months
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People on the internet: they can't hire actors who are actually in wheelchairs to play wheelchair users in movies! What if there's a scene where they need to stand up? A wheelchair user can't do that!
Robert Rodriguez: hold my beer
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This is a scene from spy kids 3 - a movie in a series famous for its shoe-string budgets, where Ricardo Montalbán's character is in a wheelchair, but spends most of his screen time in a digital reality where he doesn't need it. Ricardo Montalbán was actually in a wheelchair though in real life, so they just used a combination of VFX and camera tricks (and a dolly for a few shots) to film those scenes. Also if I remember correctly the movie ends with him back in the real world, fighting a mech with his jet-pack wheelchair lmao.
The disability rep is dated (as is the VFX lol) and does fall into a lot of tropes I personally dont like, but it's so earnest in their attempts, and the visible effort behind the scenes to include a real, disabled actor outweighs it for me - even as a kid who wasnt fully aware of why.
Bigger studios have no excuse.
I've linked the video I got these screenshots from, they talk a lot about how they handled Ricardo Montalbán's character being out of his wheelchair there. If if you like behind the scenes stuff for campy old movies, I highly recommend it!
[ID 1: a screenshot of the movie Spy kids 3D, showing Juni, the main character in a suit of yellow power armour, talking to his grandfather, who towers over him in red power armour. his grandfather is kneeling so he can be at eye level with him.
the caption underneath reads "where he kneels down and talks to Juni" /end ID 1]
[ID 2: a photo of the same shot but without the effects. Grandpa is shown to be in a wheelchair, and is being held at the needed height by a moveable platform his wheelchair is sitting on. Juni is wearing the armour, grandpa is not, and there are green screens behind them.
the caption underneath reads "but we just had him lowered in a dolly" /end ID 2]
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artlyloser · 2 months
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[ID: Illustration of Arthur Morgan from Red Dead Redemption 2 and his horse backlit by warm yellow light. Arthur has a small grin and is petting the horse on their nose and mane. His hat shades his face and he is wearing his blue shirt with suspenders and his belt with his gun is slung on his hips. The background is a rectangle with a painted dawn sky and trees. END ID]
having a lot of fun just being a cowboy in this game
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fuckysuckybrigade · 11 months
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Question: is there anywhere I can find resources/guides for how to write image descriptions? I’d like to go back and add them to my art and I’d like to not do a shitty job at description
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actingwithportals · 5 months
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ALT TEXT ISSUE
So just a heads-up for folks who defer to using ALT text on their posts instead of plaintext IDs, if the ALT text is long enough clicking on the ALT button to visually read the text creates a problem, because as soon as you move your cursor away from the ALT button (like if you use a screen magnifier and are trying to scroll down the page to read the rest of the ALT text) the text WILL DISAPPEAR. It is not possible to continue reading the whole thing visually, which is a problem for blind/low vision users that rely on screen magnifiers or enlarged text.
I know that most people prefer ALT text because people hate having long IDs on their posts, and that generally ALT text is better for people who use screen readers, but it is continuously proving to be a problem for blind/low vision users that rely on screen magnifiers over screen readers. So please PLEASE consider including plaintext IDs so that we can read them too, especially if your IDs are long and likely to get cut off by the limitations of the screen size.
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ghostcashew · 11 months
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[image description: two digital illustrations of karna solara from dimension 20's the ravening war- in the first, she's walking to the left and looking off to the right, holding a dagger in her left hand. in the second, she's in the same position, but now has magic swirling around her, disguising her as different PC's from the game where magic is in front of her. /end ID]
i've drawn karna!! ✨
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askablindperson · 2 years
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PSA
The alt text feature exists for you to write descriptions of a photo for blind and otherwise visually disabled people. It is not there as a super secret hilarious place to hide memes or troll your audience. Alt text is an accessibility feature that enables disabled people to gain access to images and screenshots, and using it as a weird hidden way to Rick roll people is not funny. It misleads people who can’t see the actual image and makes it impossible for us to know what the image actually is. Please research what the purpose of alt text actually is before using it for shit it isn’t there for.
Signed,
A Very Irritated Blind Person
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aspirationatwork · 2 months
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I've seen some posts (rightfully) complaining about how a lot of the people who write image descriptions are disabled themselves so I wanted to get some data.
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linaxart · 1 year
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People who rely on or use image descriptions for art here, I'd really appreciated if you could reply to this poll! I had to put the examples below because they got too long.
If you are not someone who needs, writes or uses image descriptions regularly please do not vote.
Example 1: A drawing of a penguin wearing a hat.
Example 2: A drawing of an emperor penguin wearing a felt hat.
Example 3: A drawing of an emperor penguin facing the viewer wearing a red and green stripped felt hat.
Example 4: A digital drawing of an emperor penguin facing the viewer wearing a red and green stripped felt hat. It has a friendly expression. The background is plain white and the style is non-realistic made of flats with soft textures.
If you can please reblog and share so we can get more input and improve accessibility!
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describe-things · 1 month
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Question: why are ids in alt text less accessible?
A few reasons.
#1 being that Tumblr is incredibly glitchy and unreliable, and change things all the time without telling anyone. ALT text can be randomly deleted while making a post, or might just disappear after a few reblogs. It's also usually in incredibly small text, and, up until recently, had a neon purple background with white text, which is the exact opposite of accessible.
People who don't have screenreaders can have a hard time reading it because it's so small or because of whatever colors they choose to use for it at the moment (which could change at any time without warning), and that's assuming tumblr doesn't glitch and remove it, which kept happening a lot. It seems to be working fine as of February 15 2024 (for people reading this post in the future), but as we all know, tumblr is a hellsite, and this time next year it might be an unusable mess.
Plain text on the other hand, is a lot less likely to glitch, can't easily be deleted once a post has been reblogged, and is much more accessible to everyone who needs it, including those with screenreader access and those without.
It's also unfortunately very common for the "Image descriptions" in alt text to either be completely wrong, or missing vital information.
A really blatant example off the top of my head is someone posting a cover for a Sherlock Holmes novel, with alt text available. If you don't need the ALT text or don't check, you're going to assume this post is accessible and fine to reblog...until you check the alt text and realize it's not a description of the book cover at all, it's a note about how the OP's father gave them the book for their x year birthday.
Another example is screenshots of tweets -- when you paste a link for a tweet into tumblr right now (February 2024), tumblr automatically converts it to an image and provdes automatic alt text transcribing the original tweet...
Except that alt text only transcribes the text in the tweet, it doesn't mention any images that are included, let alone describe them, and if you don't need alt text and don't check every time you reblog, you won't notice that half the information in this tweet is being outright hidden from people who can't see it.
Hope this helps explain it!
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anistarrose · 4 months
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Reasons why I, a sighted person, enjoy and benefit from seeing image descriptions:
Sometimes I'm not confident in my interpretation of a facial expression, and the ID can offer clarity
They might highlight details I otherwise wouldn't have noticed
Especially in the case of artist-described works: they might indicate a character's race/ethnicity that I otherwise couldn't tell for sure
Likewise, they might describe cultural details (food, clothing, hairstyle, etc) that I otherwise wouldn't have known the word for
Likewise, again: the same, but for terms for disability aids
Sometimes my internet is slow, and images don't load for me
Sometimes I have my screen brightness turned way down (sometimes due to eyestrain, sometimes due to low battery)
The activity feed doesn't show images, so sometimes a reblog notification starting with "ID: ..." is the only way I realize someone added a quality meme or some peer-reviewed tags to one of my posts
Sometimes my brain is just tired and reading words is easier than interpreting visual cues.
And maybe one of the most important ones:
While currently, my glasses completely correct my vision, I know that in the future, there might come a time in which I need — at the bare minimum — text from images transcribed in a format where I can adjust the font size.
And for that matter, you might need similar accommodations someday, too.
There are, of course, people who need these accommodations now, and that alone is more than enough justification to include image descriptions immediately, to start caring about accessibility immediately. Even if the pool of ID "beneficiaries" was only limited to blind/low vision people, and if it was a group of which the size would never increase, then online accessibility would be just as important.
But, in fact, there's a wide range of people for whom IDs are useful, to varying but objectively all valid degrees. And as the internet userbase ages, the proportion of disability will absolutely rise. After all, we're the largest marginalized group that anyone can join at any time!
Or, in other words: if your indifference to IDs stems from thinking that no one in your internet circle needs them, and/or thinking that you in particular will never need them? It's never too late to reconsider those assumptions. Here's some resources.
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futurebird · 4 months
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Please, if possible, add alt text to your images. (Describe every image, please.)
I've seen people post before about how every image posted, ideally ought to have an image description. They generally get a lot of support from people already doing it, but also some objections, questions and even anger.
So let me first say: I understand that not everyone can add image descriptions for a variety of reasons. But, if i grab 100 random posts with images here it's lucky if one or two have a description. Now I know that not that many of you have some serious reason why you can't describe the damn images.
This simply isn't the case on other social platforms I frequent. Mastodon would be well above 60% described. Even twitter (before I left that hell-hole) had like 20% of the images described. Now both of these platforms have popular tools that will remind you if you forget a description, and frankly it's easier to edit descriptions there... so some of this is Tumblr's Fault. Tumblr make image descriptions easier and make a reminder!
But it's also about user culture. People here just don't think image descriptions matter. But they do!
I WILL NOT reblog posts if they don't have image descriptions. So I end up adding them myself, and frankly I pass over MANY posts that I would have quickly reblogged but I don't have the time to be everyone's mom and describe everything. So, I just do that for the really great posts I can't pass up. But having a description will make more people share your work since you aren't making work for us if we want to share it.
Why do I need to describe images? Because many people use screen readers and if a post makes no sense unless you know what's in the image your post is useless to all of those people.
Why do I need to describe art? Because people who are blind, and people with vision impairments also like art. My brother's kid loves my ant drawings. They're legally blind, but they can see if they enlarge an image and look close up, the description give them the context they need to understand what they are looking at. Frankly, I read image descriptions all the time myself when I find a post confusing, so it's helpful to... literal minded people too. And it just makes your post seem more complete and exciting. Why miss out on putting a neat description.
I don't know what to write! Imagine you are reading the post over the phone to a friend. What would you say "And then there is that meme with the guys in the hot tub, sitting five feet apart" put that. Even something short is better than nothing. Just explain the post for everyone. Since it's YOUR post you know best what matters most about the image. When I add descriptions after the fact they can get a little long since it's not my post and I don't know what matters most. OP's description in the alt text is the best description.
If you have other questions you can ask me. I'll find out if I don't know.
(Did you know you can add alt text to your images by clicking the "…" symbol in the lower-left corner of an image when writing a post? Having the description attached to the image is the best way and only the OP can do this, but I also often add descriptions in brackets [ ] when I reblog cool art, cats and ant stuff. So, if you can't add a description yourself, it's OK, there are people who will help.)
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uncanny-tranny · 6 months
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The most important thing, in my opinion, for ALT text is to be accurate rather than perfect. If you're feeling the pull to be perfect and it's impeding you putting image descriptions, just try to be accurate in what you're describing. You will get better the more you describe things, and you'll have a better eye for what is important to describe. These skills don't just magically appear, they are something that you hone.
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