I asked Mastodon for help this morning as I aim for the best system of posting from IMatch to Socials. Good, considerate practice is to add descriptive text to an image for those who experience difficulty with their sight, especially when looking at images on small devices.
I was pondering the best way to do this. Do I include the image description in the body of the post, or attach it to the image itself? Initial responses are to put an explanation about the image in the body, but the description of the image in the alt text.
This image of me is therefore described as:
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Title/Caption | Mountain man |
| Description | Me sitting on top of a mountain in Norway. The highest I’ve ever been on land. |
| Alt-text | Man wearing skiing gear sitting on a snow covered rock on top of a mountain. He is looking to his left and surrounded by a flat snowy plain. There are snow covered mountains in the distance. |
Generating the good image descriptions has been something I’ve struggled with since I don’t what to describe. So, I have resorted to AI assistance to craft an initial draft which I then edit to make more precise. It’s helping me learn and soon I won’t have to use it.