Image descriptions

[sasha_feather]

Hello hello!

At Access Fandom we like to encourage folks to use image description, and this post is to give a shout-out and big thank you to people who do.

If you want to learn more about how to create image descriptions, our own lightgetsin wrote an excellent post on this subject.

eruthros created a spreadsheet listing Tumblrs that use image descriptions. Check out these Tumblrs! You can also add to the spreadsheet if you know of others!

If you want to start using image descriptions and feel like you need help, we at access fandom are here to help you. Ask questions!

Image descriptions benefit many people. They are beneficial for people who use screen readers (such as blind and vision impaired folks), people who have a hard time parsing images, and people who don't know what fandom or celebrity your image is referring to. Probably other folks as well!

Image descriptions: Love them, use them, don't strip them from your posts.

Comments

[jesse_the_k]

Two more groups who benefit:
* those browsing on phones, where seeing the full picture can require a lot of effort
* Folks with slow net connections--and they surely do exist. Many rural areas don't have broadband; several people on my reading list use dial up. In this case, folks use a number of strategies to get more content and less excess: pictures are the first to go.

LightGetsIn's intro is SO WONDERFUL: I've been doing image descriptions for more than thirty years and it taught me a lot. The basic principle is: tell readers the relevant details which motivated you to include the picture. You already have all the info you need to make a useful image description.

[sasha_feather]

So true, thank you!

[sqbr]

Descriptions help people who are doing text searches, too, when it's the kind of thing not covered by tags.

Thanks for doing this! Though now I have to decide what to descibe my main topics as :)

[sasha_feather]

Thanks! :D