From 45b6d85bdd656d7f5efb26d43a6a716546d46cfc Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Volpeon Date: Wed, 11 Jan 2023 08:39:55 +0100 Subject: Added a 404 page --- .../archive/in-depth-image-descriptions.md | 31 ++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 31 insertions(+) create mode 100644 content/notebook/archive/in-depth-image-descriptions.md (limited to 'content/notebook/archive/in-depth-image-descriptions.md') diff --git a/content/notebook/archive/in-depth-image-descriptions.md b/content/notebook/archive/in-depth-image-descriptions.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3143a36 --- /dev/null +++ b/content/notebook/archive/in-depth-image-descriptions.md @@ -0,0 +1,31 @@ +--- +schema_type: DigitalDocument +title: Detailed Image Descriptions Aren't Always Helpful +date: 2022-05-05 + +references: + - label: Original Post + url: https://mk.vulpes.one/notes/8zwxp9lywc +--- + +::: alert +I noticed that quite a few people write very extensive image descriptions. +Mastodon in particular implies that this is the correct way since the character limit for them is [three times as high as the limit for the actual post content](https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/pull/11819). +However, there are common situations where these image descriptions are in fact not helpful. +::: + +Imagine you're using an online shop. +What you'll typically see is a list of products where each list item has a small preview image, a product name and some other metadata.\ +Now imagine that the shop displays a long textual description for each product instead. +This is what the timeline appears like to screen reader users if long image descriptions are used. +And unlike people seeing the text, they don't have the luxury of skimming to grasp vital information quickly -- they can only wait for the screen reader to read all of it or until they decide to skip the rest. + +Detailed descriptions are only helpful when the user has decided the content is interesting to them. +Currently, most fedi frontends put them in the attachment's `alt` attribute, which is fine if the user is currently viewing a single post instead of the timeline. +But on the timeline, it's much more important to have quick summaries instead.\ +In terms of the example above, it's the same when viewing a single product vs. the product list. +You're only interested in the details if a product is interesting to you. + +Image description on fedi are a step up from having none at all, but they're still inadequate. +Ideally, you could provide both a quick summary and an in-depth description, and the UI presents both in a way that's the most helpful.\ +Since this possibility doesn't exist, please consider keeping image descriptions short and putting the long description in the post body. -- cgit v1.2.3-54-g00ecf