The amount of hate I've seen directed at alt-text and at people who ask for, and provide, alt-text recently is disgusting.
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@sinituulia @clare_hooley @bodhipaksa funnily enough I was actually told not to do that when learning webdev, if it is not relevant - i was told not to alt it at all. It's all pretty confusing! There are also different notions on how to WRITE alt text on different sites! (Including opinions by people using screen readers). I alt my images, but oh gods, even a well-intentioned person can feel torn apart by contradicting recommendations.
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@weilaverdui @clare_hooley @bodhipaksa I go by the pretty solid guideline of: "If this image didn't load would I be curious to find out what it is?" And most of the time I would be! And often pretty annoyed. What if it's something objectionable to me, and I have no idea? Better that there be SOME indication, even if it's just for decor.
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@sinituulia @weilaverdui @clare_hooley
Also, if there's no alt text at all, some screen readers will read out the file name. Presumably they do this in the hopes that the file name will say something like -cute-kitten.jpg. But on Mastodon uploaded images have file names that are random collections of numbers and letters, like d0a5a09423526786.jpg.
That has to be annoying.
Alt text is fun to write if you imagine you're describing the image to a friend over the phone.
