cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/45437770
I've been thinking a lot about the Fediverse ALT issue.
Some people are annoyed by posts without Alttext, & others get reminded¹ to add it.
The core question is: How can we improve accessibility?
Proposal: ☑️ Add a user filter to hide media posts without AltTag ☑️ Reduced engagement on hidden posts would encourage adding Alt text ☑️ People who need accessibility wouldn't have to encounter unlabeled media
If this gets traction, I'll open a Mastodon GitHub issue (maybe on others too?).
Some software does not support alt-text, so people write the text on the post itself or comment.
Well that's what i did on lemmy in the begginning.
So a middle ground is need or maybe we should work on a fediverse accessibility charter ? Something that set some rules for the whole fediverse :
Some fedi software are esoteric, like Misskey have Misskey flavoured markdown (example), even Mastodon cannot display the feature. There are fedi software that can be accessed via console, zero image displayed. Some others have non-conventional design that caters to specific use, basically not even for mainstream people, so they don't even follow any accessibility rules.