{"id":"ef7e3a18-d9b2-4100-b9a5-34f718d7ab25","slug":"s17e10-alt-text-reply-management-stickers","subject":"s17e10: Alt Text; Reply Management Stickers","title":"Alt Text; Reply Management Stickers","publish_date":"2024-02-13T20:50:14.283737+00:00","year":2024,"month":2,"season":17,"episode":10,"episode_label":"s17e10","canonical_url":"https://newsletter.danhon.com/archive/s17e10-alt-text-reply-management-stickers/","is_premium":0,"word_count":727,"body_html":"

0.0 Context Setting

It’s Tuesday, 13 February, 2024 in Portland Oregon and I’m going to have pancakes tonight.

I killed one of the goblin leaders by hilariously shoving them into a chasm but now am trying to figure out how to off the other two without bringing down the entire goblin camp on me.

1.0 Some Things That Caught My Attention

1.1 Alt Text

Okay, usual disclaimer: this is me thinking out loud. Thinking out loud like this means “not really having done any research”.

In this particular case it also means “not having read up on the start of the art in accessibility and accessible design.”

In this very particular case, it also means “not even having spoken to people who need descriptive text”.

  1. It’s great that alt text is now visibly asked for when posting an image to social software!

  2. However, it gets super annoying having to describe images all the time!

  3. Especially if you’re having to do it repeatedly for the same image!

What could you do?

You’d need to make sure that you’ve got a good flow for approving any automatically generated descriptive text. You’d also want to bake that text in so you don’t have to edit it in each posting app.

Someone is probably already on this.

1.2 Reply Management Stickers

Last Friday I made a sticker to use on Mastodon, which has... kinds of people. Today I made some more and posted them to Mastodon, Bluesky, and Threads.

Here’s the list:

  1. This is an observation / do not attempt to help / no reply necessary

  2. Do not reply with a software suggestion

  3. Do not reply to tell me to use open source software

  4. Do not reply to teach me about capitalism or enshittification. I know.

  5. Do not reply to tell me you don’t have this problem.

  6. Do not reply to deny my lived experience

  7. Do not reply unless you have direct experience.

I am going to break my rule of not having images in my newsletter because, well, it doesn't make sense if you can't see these.

\"An
Do not reply unless you have direct experience
\"An
Do not reply with a software suggestion
\"An
Do not reply to deny my lived experience
\"An
Do not reply to tell me to use open source software
\"An
Do not reply to teach me about capitalism or enshittification. I know.
\"An
Do not reply to tell me you don't have this problem

Oh, and the original one:

\"An
This is an observation. Do not attempt to help. No reply necessary.

There’s an album of all of them.

Look. I made these because I think people need better ways of managing replies in social software. They are also kind of a joke? I mean, a joke and also serious? They’re a joke in the sense that “ha ha we all know someone who replies like that” and also maybe a joke because they’re a little bit socially transgressive?

I’ve been told people like the design, but honestly I think it’s a bit too simplistic. The first one I knocked up in Keynote in about five or so minutes, the bit that took the longest was picking what to use from SF Symbols.

Caught my attention because: no, seriously. The response to these has been... surprisingly unsurprising. People really like them.

Short one today.

How are you doing?

Best,

Dan

How you can support Things That Caught My Attention

Things That Caught My Attention is a free newsletter, and if you like it and find it useful, please consider becoming a paid supporter.

Let my boss pay!

Do you have an expense account or a training/research materials budget? Let your boss pay, at $25/month, or $270/year, $35/month, or $380/year, or $50/month, or $500/year.

Paid supporters get a free copy of Things That Caught My Attention, Volume 1, collecting the best essays from the first 50 episodes, and free subscribers get a 20% discount.

","body_text":"0.0 Context Setting\nIt’s Tuesday, 13 February, 2024 in Portland Oregon and I’m going to have pancakes tonight.\nI killed one of the goblin leaders by hilariously shoving them into a chasm but now am trying to figure out how to off the other two without bringing down the entire goblin camp on me.\n1.0 Some Things That Caught My Attention\n1.1 Alt Text\nOkay, usual disclaimer: this is me thinking out loud. Thinking out loud like this means “not really having done any research”.\nIn this particular case it also means “not having read up on the start of the art in accessibility and accessible design.”\nIn this\nvery\nparticular case, it also means “not even having spoken to people who need descriptive text”.\nIt’s great that alt text is now visibly asked for when posting an image to social software!\nHowever, it gets super annoying having to describe images all the time!\nEspecially if you’re having to do it repeatedly for the\nsame\nimage!\nWhat could you do?\nCreate alt text once and embed it in an image’s metadata. I’m sure there’s an EXIF field you could use.\nFor photographs, have the OS / “computational photography engine” create and embed alt text at the time the photograph was taken.\nWhen adding an image via a client, have that client create alt text at the time the image is added (this seems inefficient, you’d be doing it multiple times)\nYou’d need to make sure that you’ve got a good flow for approving any automatically generated descriptive text. You’d also want to bake that text in so you don’t have to edit it in each posting app.\nSomeone is probably already on this.\n1.2 Reply Management Stickers\nLast Friday I made a sticker to use on Mastodon, which has...\nkinds of people\n. Today I made some more and posted them to Mastodon, Bluesky, and Threads.\nHere’s the list:\nThis is an observation / do not attempt to help / no reply necessary\nDo not reply with a software suggestion\nDo not reply to tell me to use open source software\nDo not reply to teach me about capitalism or enshittification. I know.\nDo not reply to tell me you don’t have this problem.\nDo not reply to deny my lived experience\nDo not reply unless you have direct experience.\nI am going to break my rule of not having images in my newsletter because, well, it doesn't make sense if you can't see these.\nDo not reply unless you have direct experience\nDo not reply with a software suggestion\nDo not reply to deny my lived experience\nDo not reply to tell me to use open source software\nDo not reply to teach me about capitalism or enshittification. I know.\nDo not reply to tell me you don't have this problem\nOh, and the original one:\nThis is an observation. Do not attempt to help. No reply necessary.\nThere’s\nan album of all of them\n.\nLook. I made these because I think people need better ways of managing replies in social software. They are also kind of a joke? I mean, a joke and also serious? They’re a joke in the sense that “ha ha we all know someone who replies like that” and also maybe a joke because they’re a little bit socially transgressive?\nI’ve been told people like the design, but honestly I think it’s a bit too simplistic. The first one I knocked up in Keynote in about five or so minutes, the bit that took the longest was picking what to use from SF Symbols.\nCaught my attention because:\nno, seriously. The response to these has been... surprisingly unsurprising. People\nreally\nlike them.\nShort one today.\nHow are you doing?\nBest,\nDan\nHow you can support Things That Caught My Attention\nThings That Caught My Attention is a free newsletter, and if you like it and find it useful, please\nconsider becoming a paid supporter\n.\nLet my boss pay!\nDo you have an expense account or a training/research materials budget? Let your boss pay, at\n$25/month, or $270/year\n,\n$35/month, or $380/year\n, or\n$50/month, or $500/year\n.\nPaid supporters get a free copy of\nThings That Caught My Attention, Volume 1\n, collecting the best essays from the first 50 episodes, and\nfree subscribers get a 20% discount\n.","raw_format":"html","source":"api","summary":"This issue explores two problems with how we currently handle images and replies on social media. The first piece riffs on the friction of repeatedly writing alt text for the same image across platforms, proposing solutions like embedding descriptions in image metadata or having computational photography engines generate them automatically. The second section showcases a set of stickers the author created for Mastodon, Bluesky, and Threads that preemptively manage common unhelpful reply patterns—from unsolicited tech suggestions to dismissals of lived experience—which have resonated unexpectedly well with people despite their intentionally transgressive humor.","reading_minutes":4,"links":[{"url":"https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjBdZ8F","normalized_url":"https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjBdZ8F","domain":"flic.kr","anchor_text":"an album of all of them","is_archive":0,"archive_url":null,"archive_service":null,"category":"external"},{"url":"https://buy.stripe.com/fZe28qbFOazZ4M04gh","normalized_url":"https://buy.stripe.com/fZe28qbFOazZ4M04gh","domain":"stripe.com","anchor_text":"$25/month, or $270/year","is_archive":0,"archive_url":null,"archive_service":null,"category":"plumbing"},{"url":"https://buy.stripe.com/cN200i8tCgYn4M0eUW","normalized_url":"https://buy.stripe.com/cN200i8tCgYn4M0eUW","domain":"stripe.com","anchor_text":"$35/month, or $380/year","is_archive":0,"archive_url":null,"archive_service":null,"category":"plumbing"},{"url":"https://buy.stripe.com/bIYcN4cJSgYnbao9AD","normalized_url":"https://buy.stripe.com/bIYcN4cJSgYnbao9AD","domain":"stripe.com","anchor_text":"$50/month, or $500/year","is_archive":0,"archive_url":null,"archive_service":null,"category":"plumbing"},{"url":"https://store.verylittlegravitas.com/l/ThingsVol1","normalized_url":"https://store.verylittlegravitas.com/l/ThingsVol1","domain":"verylittlegravitas.com","anchor_text":"Things That Caught My Attention, Volume 1","is_archive":0,"archive_url":null,"archive_service":null,"category":"self"},{"url":"https://verylittlegravitas.gumroad.com/l/ThingsVol1/subscriber","normalized_url":"https://verylittlegravitas.gumroad.com/l/ThingsVol1/subscriber","domain":"gumroad.com","anchor_text":"free subscribers get a 20% discount","is_archive":0,"archive_url":null,"archive_service":null,"category":"self"}],"sections":[{"id":5226,"ord":0,"number":"0.0","heading":"Context Setting","level":1,"word_count":53},{"id":5227,"ord":1,"number":"1.0","heading":"Some Things That Caught My Attention","level":1,"word_count":6},{"id":5228,"ord":2,"number":"1.1","heading":"Alt Text","level":1,"word_count":221},{"id":5229,"ord":3,"number":"1.2","heading":"Reply Management Stickers","level":1,"word_count":344},{"id":5230,"ord":4,"number":null,"heading":"How you can support Things That Caught My Attention","level":2,"word_count":34},{"id":5231,"ord":5,"number":null,"heading":"Let my boss pay!","level":3,"word_count":65}]}