One of the things I have liked about Mastodon is the encouragement to put alt-text on images. But as others have noticed, the more the network of mastodonians grows, the proportion of images with alt-text goes down.
It's not hard - please please PLEASE add alt-text to your images, even if it's just a quick note, and better if it's more descriptive.
@SisterArtemis
I am new and I have no idea what that means.
@klaartuu
It's a way to add a description to images, built into the window where you write posts.
I don't understand all the techie pieces, but it provides a way for people to have their computers put voice to the description of the image.
When you create a post, and add an image (& before you click "toot" to post it), click the link in the upper right corner, and a window will pop up where you can type the description. Once it's posted, you can hover a mouse pointer over it to see the text.
@klaartuu
I had to walk myself through the procedure to check what I wrote before - when you add an image, click the "edit" linkie in the upper right corner of the image.
An interesting bit is that the character limit for alt-text is much longer than a post. You can really get detailed, but in this link another user shared earlier, you want to tailor the descriptions for the audience you think you are talking to. This article is very helpful:
https://uxdesign.cc/how-to-write-an-image-description-2f30d3bf5546
@SisterArtemis thanks again. I’ll play with it tomorrow!
@SisterArtemis amazing. I’ll try to remember, if I post an image.