This isn’t a prompt, but do you know why some people put text descriptions of the pictures underneath them? Is it just for when they don’t load properly?
It can be used for that, yes, but it’s mainly used for blind or low vision people who can’t see the pictures, but have screen-readers that can read the text to them.
So if there’s a post that’s conveyed almost entirely through reaction images, with just a few lines of text here and there, they won’t understand what’s happening, because they can’t see the pictures, all they know is what the text says.
But if you include a description of the images, their screen reader can include that information, so that they’re just as in the loop as everyone else.
It’s a good habit to get into, especially if you’re good at typing on mobile. It helps not only your followers, but anyone else who might see the post.
It seems to be a pretty common misconception that blind people don’t use the internet or computers, and it’s definitely not true.
The Main thing is to include “ID” or “Image Description” at the front, and “End ID” or “End Image Description” or something similar at the end, so that there is a clear distinctions between an image being described, and normal text. It’s also helpful to include brackets like these to ‘contain’ the image description [ ]
Think of it like quotation marks. Books would be a lot harder to understand if there weren’t any quotation marks to show you what was being said and what was being narrated.
It’s also important to include paragraph breaks and punctuation as necessary, because, like you said, it might be used in case the images aren’t loading, so it should be easy to read for people with vision as well. Autistic people and people with ADHD in particular have trouble reading large paragraphs, so treat it like you would a story, and split it up as needed.
It is very important NOT to put your image description under a cut or a read more, because this means that the people trying to access the post now have to click through to your blog, AND it means that if you ever change your URL or delete your blog, anything under the cut disappears, and they still won’t be able to understand the post. And if that happens, people might keep relogging your version thinking they’re helping, not realizing that it’s empty.
Image descriptions can get long, and in that case, simply tag them as “l/ong post”, like you would with any other post. But don’t put them behind a read-more. The idea here is to make them easy to access, and having to click away from the dashboard multiple times with the risk that there is nothing to find is the opposite of helpful.
Some examples, ranging in difficulty:
[ID: A cut out photograph of a monarch butterfly, with its wings open against a white background. End ID]
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[Image Description: A black and white, motion-blurred drawing of a werewolf. Her mouth is open wide, and her eye is glowing red, and she is surrounded by the capital letter A, indicating that she is screaming loudly. End Image Description.]
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[ID: A half-completed drawing of a woman with short blonde hair and pale skin running partially backwards, as someone off-screen pulls her by the hand, leaning in the direction she is moving to indicate that she is moving quickly, and the person pulling her is in a hurry.
She is wearing a blue and white, long-sleeved striped shirt, and long khaki pants. She is smiling widely, one hand raised in a happy wave that is directed at four people behind her, where her gaze is directed. Musical notes float above her head, indicating that she is singing.
The people she is waving to, and the railing they are leaning on are done only in black and white, they are not wearing clothes, and they are identical to one another. Their eyes are closed, they are smiling, and they don’t have hair. They each have one hand raised to wave back, and more musical notes are above their heads, indicating they are also singing. They all appear to be very happy.
The background is blank white. End ID.]
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If you can’t add image descriptions to posts you reblog or create, (and if you’re reblogging, you can try scrolling through the notes to see if anyone else has added a description, and reblog that!), it’s helpful to tag the post as “undescribed ima/ges” (minus the /) or “no I/D” (minus the /), so that the posts can be filtered by people who won’t be able to access them.
I’m trying to add image descriptions to the things I make or reblog, but my problem is that I am absolutely terrible at typing on my phone (if you follow me at @rjalker, you are probably very aware of this) so I have to wait until I can use my laptop to add them in. So if I’m reblogging a post that has pictures, but no image description, I tag it as “undescri/bed images”.
As a tip if you’re using a laptop, if you have a Notepad app or other quick writing program, you can open that, minimize the window, and type your image description in there while looking at the picture on Tumblr, instead of having to scroll up and down constantly!
But yeah! It’s pretty easy once you get into the habit, and it’ll make your blog more accessible to people who are blind or have low vision, or even just, like you said, a bad internet connection! I absolutely encourage it!
It might seem daunting at first, but once you get used to it, you’ll be helping a lot of people, and you’ll get better at writing, too!
If anyone has any more information or tips, please feel free to add on, because I’m still learning!
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