hey uh. if you dont mind me asking, whats a good way to add an image id?
also around how long is it supposed to be? i dont know how much detail im supposed to include.
im awful at everything having to do with summarising or main ideas most of the time, and this seems to carry over to ids.
are ids supposed to be in the text of the post or in the alt text of the image?
thanks if you can answer. i really want to be able to do ids im just not sure how to do them well.
Hi!
So disclaimer that I’m not an expert or even a person who relies on image descriptions themself, and preferences on good ways to add IDs vary among the people who do. That said, any ID is better than no ID, so try not to worry about getting it “right” - what matters most is that there is one.
Generally speaking, when writing IDs you want to focus on the main things about the image. Categorise the image - is it a meme, artwork, screenshot, Tweet, photo, etc? You’ll then find that a lot of IDs follow repetitive structures - “A Tweet that says [X]”, “Fanart of [character] from [media] doing [X]”, “a photo of [X]”. It’s ideal to write IDs in plain text, meaning no bold font, italics, coloured text, small text, or any other formatting. Plain text is easier to read and easier for screen readers to pick up on. You should also avoid putting it under a read more, even if you’re worried your ID is long.
In my experience, most IDs only take a few sentences. If you write one and worry it's too long, see if there's anything you can leave out without taking away too much detail.
As for ALT text vs. post text, I usually do both! ALT text for a very brief summary of the image, and post text for more detail. This is because some screen readers will skip over the entire post if there’s nothing in ALT text; additionally, ALT text isn’t yet accessible to everyone - some people can’t yet access it on Tumblr mobile, for example. I've added a simple example below:
[ID: The Bernie Sanders "I am once again asking" meme. The caption reads: "I am once again asking you to describe your images." End ID]
Finally, if you still find yourself struggling, that's OK! There are plenty of reasons people might struggle to write IDs, which is one of the reasons it's so important for people who don't, like myself, to do it as much as I can. If you still have difficulties, you can scroll through the notes of a post to see if someone else has already written one or ask someone to write one for you - there are plenty of accessibility-focused blogs that would be happy to help. There's also the People's Accessibility Discord server, which is full of lovely people who you can ask to write or proof-read IDs for you. Don't be afraid to practice and ask for help, but also don't worry too much because again, and ID is better than no ID.