04/10/2023 3:03:40 ¶ ●

# a note on image descriptions

just a heads up - going forward i will only be putting image descriptions in the alt text of the image itself, as this is what people who actually use screen readers have requested. when the image description is doubled - in both the alt text & the body of the post - they have to listen to it twice. it seems, based on polls i’ve seen here, that alt text is the preferred placement.

i had previously been doubling my IDs because folks were consistently tagging my alt-text-only posts as “undescribed” - i’m sure this will continue to happen, but i’m realizing now that most of the people doing that are not actually visually impaired themselves & aren’t taking any time to check the alt text for a description before slapping the tag on the post. i’d rather have my posts mistagged as inaccessible rather than actually make them more inaccessible by overdoing it on the description. anyway, here’s a guide on writing better image descriptions - i’m still learning too!