(I am posting this from my Friendica as well as my Akkoma accounts, since some instances and groups don't federate with Blob.cat.)Please forgive the negative post, but this must be said. I'm sick of what I'm calling the switching crew. They constantly say things such as "switch from Facebook or Twitter to the Fediverse", "switch from Amazon to local shops), "switch from Windows or Mac to Linux", etc. They sometimes imply and sometimes outwardly state how easy it is. So let me explain something. Note that I can't speak for other disabilities, since I'm only blind, but I'm sure they have their own problems with these as well. I am also very good with computers, so I have the technical skills to do these things. Not everyone does.
It takes research to join the Fediverse. Not everyone wants to join Mastodon, and even for those who do, [people still must find instances that align with their goals. Not all platforms here are accessible, either. I left Facebook precisely because they shut down their basic mobile site, and their main site and apps are terrible to use with a scr
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(I am posting this from my Friendica as well as my Akkoma accounts, since some instances and groups don't federate with Blob.cat.)Please forgive the negative post, but this must be said. I'm sick of what I'm calling the switching crew. They constantly say things such as "switch from Facebook or Twitter to the Fediverse", "switch from Amazon to local shops), "switch from Windows or Mac to Linux", etc. They sometimes imply and sometimes outwardly state how easy it is. So let me explain something. Note that I can't speak for other disabilities, since I'm only blind, but I'm sure they have their own problems with these as well. I am also very good with computers, so I have the technical skills to do these things. Not everyone does.
It takes research to join the Fediverse. Not everyone wants to join Mastodon, and even for those who do, [people still must find instances that align with their goals. Not all platforms here are accessible, either. I left Facebook precisely because they shut down their basic mobile site, and their main site and apps are terrible to use with a screen reader. I joined Friendica, but had more accessibility problems. Now, I'm on Akkoma and am finally happy. But it's taken over four months for me to find my place!
Amazon offers free shipping, large discounts, and in some cases, Amazon Fresh to Prime members. They also have a wide variety of products, all at one place. All of this contributes to the independence, not only of the blind, but also of those who are house-bound. No one has yet to give me an alternative that has all of these features. It's great to go to local farmer's markets and little shops, but not everyone can easily get there, and even those places that do ship often require monthly payments, charge a lot, or charge shipping with every order. Are there blind people who do shop locally? Yes. Is everyone like that, or does everyone have such places near him? No.
Prior to joining the Fediverse, this one annoyed me the most. Most sighted people can just turn on a computer or a phone and start using a new operating system relatively quickly, as long as it's graphical. It's not the same for those of us who are blind. First, the system has to have a screen reader installed. If not, we must find someone sighted to install it for us. Many Linux distributions don't have Orca installed by default. Secondly, even if said system is installed, there needs to be an easy way to activate it via a hottkey or during setup. Many Linux distributions have Orca but don't have an easy way to start it. Then, once all of that is done, we must learn how to use said screen reader, not to mention the layout and commands of the operating system itself, and withLinux, often, one must learn how to use the terminal in order to accomplish certain tasks. Even as a DOS lover, I found it to be frustrating. . Finally, after accomplishing all of that, if there aren't many programs that work with this operating system and screen reader, or if they don't work well, why should we switch from a system that we already know, where things are accessible, to one that we don't where they aren't? Linux is great for the sighted, but not for the majority of the blind. Again, are there blind people who use it? Yes. Is it as easy as simply turning on a computer and switching? No.
Sometimes, with all of this going on today, I am reminded of the argument, or at least the disagreement, between Noel Coward and Ivor Novello, who otherwise were very good friends. Coward, who served as a spy during World War II, accused Novello of not doing enough and of trying to live life as normal. This was quite unfair, as he performed during the war years, taking The Dancing years around the UK, sometimes to bombed out theatres, just to bring the people a bit of joy and hope. Not everyone is meant to risk his life in the way that Coward did, be it openly as a spy or more covertly, or even by protesting, etc. In my case, however, he would be right. I do stay away from things. But I am also a follower of dandyism, particularly in its Brummellian form. It is true that Beau Brummell lived in luxury for a time, knew the highest members of society, including the Prince of Wales, and had a mass following. But the rest of his life was sheer hell, from poverty to syphilis. Yet even as he, and everything around him, was falling apart, he never lost who he was. He never willingly stopped... show more
Sometimes, with all of this going on today, I am reminded of the argument, or at least the disagreement, between Noel Coward and Ivor Novello, who otherwise were very good friends. Coward, who served as a spy during World War II, accused Novello of not doing enough and of trying to live life as normal. This was quite unfair, as he performed during the war years, taking The Dancing years around the UK, sometimes to bombed out theatres, just to bring the people a bit of joy and hope. Not everyone is meant to risk his life in the way that Coward did, be it openly as a spy or more covertly, or even by protesting, etc. In my case, however, he would be right. I do stay away from things. But I am also a follower of dandyism, particularly in its Brummellian form. It is true that Beau Brummell lived in luxury for a time, knew the highest members of society, including the Prince of Wales, and had a mass following. But the rest of his life was sheer hell, from poverty to syphilis. Yet even as he, and everything around him, was falling apart, he never lost who he was. He never willingly stopped living to the best of his ability, seeking the finer things in life, etc. As long as his mentality held, and even once after it was gone, he remained steadfast in his love of good things. I am the same way. I refuse to give up my life style, to be negative all the time (I do not suffer from depression as he did), to bring drama into my life, etc. I want to take it for all it's worth and enjoy it! If, and only if, I am forced to change, or to move, etc. I will do so. But the world, in itself, is not my concern. My concern is myself, my loved ones, and those about whom I care deeply. That's it. I may follow the physical and vocal exercises of Clara Novello Davies, but I don't follow her life's philosophy. I can say, however, that if the world did, it would be a truly beautiful and wonderful place to live. I'm just a bit more realistic than that.
*This is a note for those who wish to follow me. First, please read my profile. Secondly, subscribers are those who follow me, but whom I don't follow in return. Friends are those who follow me and whom I follow in return.
People who will never be accepted: Minors. I don't feel comfortable having anyone under eighteen (preferably twenty-one) follow me, even as subscribers.
People who will always be subscribers: Those who constantly write about politics, who always use obscenities, anti-capitalists, anarchists, extreme leftists and rightists), religious fanatics, those who hardly post in English, only post about technology and/or games (not including accessibility), or medical/mental issues. Note. I'm not talking about having a bad day or posting once about politics. I'm talking about those who barely post anything else.
People who will always be friends: Those who post about high culture (classical music, good literature, art, history, theatre, wine, coffee, tea, snuff, fine dining, etc.), male fashion, nature, pets (especially cats), plants/gardening, good ne
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*This is a note for those who wish to follow me. First, please read my profile. Secondly, subscribers are those who follow me, but whom I don't follow in return. Friends are those who follow me and whom I follow in return.
People who will never be accepted: Minors. I don't feel comfortable having anyone under eighteen (preferably twenty-one) follow me, even as subscribers.
People who will always be subscribers: Those who constantly write about politics, who always use obscenities, anti-capitalists, anarchists, extreme leftists and rightists), religious fanatics, those who hardly post in English, only post about technology and/or games (not including accessibility), or medical/mental issues. Note. I'm not talking about having a bad day or posting once about politics. I'm talking about those who barely post anything else.
People who will always be friends: Those who post about high culture (classical music, good literature, art, history, theatre, wine, coffee, tea, snuff, fine dining, etc.), male fashion, nature, pets (especially cats), plants/gardening, good news, writing, and daily life (without constant drama).
I'm replying to this in the hopes that, maybe, I can now see it on my actual profile page so that I can pin it. It's amazing the work-arounds I have to do just to be able to use this site.
Ironically, you've connected to me first. My channel has only got two topics. The primary topic is a certain kind of 3-D virtual worlds, the secondary topic is the Fediverse beyond Mastodon, although this may include accessibility topics. Since this is not my personal, all-round channel, I don't post about anything else.
I'm working on a series of posts that will touch male fashion. But they'll touch male fashion in the above-mentioned virtual worlds, I'll post them on a dedicated (streams) channel, and this Hubzilla channel will only forward them. Also, expect each one to have both a summary and a spoiler tag for those who are easily triggered by even the slightest eye contact.
@Jupiter Rowland I'm actually interested in the Fediverse beyond Mastodon. That's not what I meant by constantly posting about technology. I would also love to experience a virtual world, but I don't know of any that are accessible. That said, many other games are, both text-based and audio, and now, some mainstream ones as well.
Rant ahead. I didn't join Friendica to protest anything. I didn't join to make a political statement. I joined for one reason only. Facebook shut down their Basic Mobile site (not app), and their main site is a nightmare to use with screen readers. That's it. I was just looking for a place where I could find new friends (I lost almost all of mine after moving here), and read interesting things. Yet almost everyone I approve gets set to Subscriber, because of constant political posts, anti-capitalism/extreme leftism, or an obsession with technology. Yes, I post about artificial intelligence, but just as something interesting I read in the news. I don't live for technology. Likewise, I mostly don't choose the places I buy from based on politics, how the workers are paid, what the owners do, etc. It is true that I don't ever give to the Salvation army because of their stance on homosexuality. But I can't simply stop buying from Amazon. I could count the number of books I've bought from them in almost twenty years on one hand. What I do buy from them is everything else, like... show more
Rant ahead. I didn't join Friendica to protest anything. I didn't join to make a political statement. I joined for one reason only. Facebook shut down their Basic Mobile site (not app), and their main site is a nightmare to use with screen readers. That's it. I was just looking for a place where I could find new friends (I lost almost all of mine after moving here), and read interesting things. Yet almost everyone I approve gets set to Subscriber, because of constant political posts, anti-capitalism/extreme leftism, or an obsession with technology. Yes, I post about artificial intelligence, but just as something interesting I read in the news. I don't live for technology. Likewise, I mostly don't choose the places I buy from based on politics, how the workers are paid, what the owners do, etc. It is true that I don't ever give to the Salvation army because of their stance on homosexuality. But I can't simply stop buying from Amazon. I could count the number of books I've bought from them in almost twenty years on one hand. What I do buy from them is everything else, like essentials for my life, from food, to body care, to technology, to household items, and more. I love it when people say "just buy locally". Great! Now can you give me a working pair of eyes, money, and a car? Then, there are those who say "try this site". That seems reasonable. But will they give me free shipping and discounts as Amazon does, and will their selection be as varied? If there is a site like that, I would be more than willing to buy from it. Anyway, I'm just looking for people who share my interests, and while I've found a few, they are very few, indeed. Even those who just post regular things, whether they interest me or not, seem rare here. This probably why so many people don't come to the Fediverse. It's like there's a little clique, and those of us who are not in it are shut out in the cold. Yes, we're invited, and some of the people here are truly wonderful individuals as a whole. But if we have nothing in common with most of them, how are we supposed to find our own? Thank you to those who do post wonderful things. I did find a few of you, and rest assured, you are set to friends and to all, so that I see all of your posts.
As a grammar prescriptivist, I take writing and proper use of words very seriously. I recently saw a post about ending text messages with full stops. Apparently, some think this is a bad idea. No. It's called using punctuation correctly! Perhaps, they should read a few grammars instead of playing their silly video games! The same is true of netspeak, textspeak, corporate spaek, and abbreviating everything. Likewise, I have no use for political correctness. I refuse to use words such as visually-challenged, vertically-challenged, etc. I will say blind (or visually impaired if the person has some vision), short, fat, etc. Unless I'm writing poetry and am seeking flowery words for things, I call them what they are. Neither do I see any difference between saying "a blind person" and "a person who is blind", for example. I also have no time for so-called gender-neutral words, unless they honestly make sense and are actually descriptive, such as firefighter or police officer. But I'm just as likely to say fireman, policeman, waiter, steward, actor, chairman, etc. and change the gender w
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As a grammar prescriptivist, I take writing and proper use of words very seriously. I recently saw a post about ending text messages with full stops. Apparently, some think this is a bad idea. No. It's called using punctuation correctly! Perhaps, they should read a few grammars instead of playing their silly video games! The same is true of netspeak, textspeak, corporate spaek, and abbreviating everything. Likewise, I have no use for political correctness. I refuse to use words such as visually-challenged, vertically-challenged, etc. I will say blind (or visually impaired if the person has some vision), short, fat, etc. Unless I'm writing poetry and am seeking flowery words for things, I call them what they are. Neither do I see any difference between saying "a blind person" and "a person who is blind", for example. I also have no time for so-called gender-neutral words, unless they honestly make sense and are actually descriptive, such as firefighter or police officer. But I'm just as likely to say fireman, policeman, waiter, steward, actor, chairman, etc. and change the gender when necessary. I refuse to use the singular they. There are two sexes (gender is for grammar). You're either one or the other. This absolutely doesn't mean that you can't change your sex. If, for example, I meet you as a woman and you change to a man or are a drag king/queen, I will certainly change my use of pronouns when discussing you or talking about you, either permenantly or temporarily, as the case requires. But unless you literally have multiple personalities or are a machine or an inanimate object, you are neither a they nor an it, and you're certainly not some made-up pronoun such as xe. I would never cause harm to those who use such words. I would just consider them to be silly or confused. If the sex is unknown, or if a sentence can apply to both sexes, I use the masculine, simply because it's grammatically correct to do so.
I am the chairperson of an organisation and I'm not a chairman. You are more obsessed by your gramnar obsession than for the respect of the individuals. I am very certain that this should be the other way round.
At the end of the day, only humans use grammar. The use of grammar should focus on the respect of people.
@lindaduval No, but you very well could be a chairwoman. I'm not against changing the gender of a word when necessary to match the sex of the individual. Language exists for a reason and so do conventions. It would be quite strange if everyone call things according to his own idea of what they should be named.
I am the chaiperson of my organisation literally. Why do I want to pigeonhole myself? The chairperson terminology is valid and inclusive. Why should the focus be gender centric and exclusive?
I certainly rebel to the patriarchal society and will identity myself as a person, not a gender.
@lindaduval There's nothing exclusive about simply saying what you are. It also makes things easier when people speak about you. It would make far more sense to say "I received a letter from the chairwoman yesterday and she told me" rather than "they told me". I am speaking about one person, not a group. What if you had a name that could be either male or female and I were writing to you? I could say "Dear Madam Chairwoman". Of course, I could also say "Dear Sir or Madam", but it's better to use a title. The former salutation is really if you don't know who will be receiving said letter. "Dear Linda" would be far too informal and quite disrespectful in a business context in any case.
When people write to me, they simply use Dear Ms Duval or Dear Linda. Nobody has ever reported to me that they have struggled in finding an appropriate term.
Dear Sir or Madam are also acceptable when someone does not know the name of the person they are writing to. I would expect this to be rare since most people would make an effort to find out to whom they are writing to these days.
I sign my correspondence as Chair of (name of my organisation)
@lindaduval @lindaduval Yes. In your case, Miss, Mrs. etc. makes sense. But if you had a name that could go either way or that was truly uncommon, just knowing it wouldn't help the writer decide which title to use. Fortunately, as you said, in your case, it's not a problem.
Mrs is also an unacceptable term. There is no need for women to have to advertise whether they are married. There is only one term for men and it is Mr. Women should use Ms. Women really need to move on from the old Victorian patriarchal society that entrapped women into submission.
Again, if someone needs to write to the chaiperson of an organisation, the most respecful thing to do, would simply to find out to whom they are writing to.
@lindaduval @lindaduval To whom they are writing. The extra "to" is redundant. I don't agree with all of these leftist/feminist/man-hating ideas that I've seen from various people, but from a grammatical point of view, the part about Mr. and Ms. does make sense. Either both sexes should have such titles to indicate marriage or there should be a single one for each. But I'm not so radical that I would abandon the old ones, and I myself am a Miss, though at forty-one, I very well may be a Madam. haha
@lindaduval @lindaduval My sincere apologies. I always try to be gentle with non-native speakers. I must say, other than that tiny mistake, you write so well that I would never have guessed that English wasn't your first language! I am equal whether I subscribe to all of that or not. I don't need to be radical or to change the language in order to love myself, or to strive for the best, or to demand to be treated equally. I simply need to be, and I am.
Your preferences are yours and you choose what you prefer. However, we live in a society where it is important to be aware where language can be detrimental to women.
The difference can be simply felt in how much you get paid compared to a man in the same role. Please search "gender pay gap" and you will find that in the legal industry, for example, men can earn as much as 59% more than a woman in the same role.
As someone who is totally blind, the Fediverse is the only place where I have ever been able to follow people such as photographers, artists, or even those who post pictures of their cats or the food they ate. The reason is that most of them use alt text. They take the time to describe the images that my screen reader can't recognise. Some write the descriptions themselves, and others use tools such as altbot. Some worry that their descriptions aren't good enough, especially when they are new at this. Let me assure you, not only are they good enough, they are extremely appreciated! If the rest of the world thought as you did, it would be a much better place. Don't hesitate to ask if you're unsure of something, but never think that we don't notice your effort.
I once had to convert MBA lecturers' slides into tactile ones and describe in braille. This was Cambridge Uni so intelligent lecturers you would have thought but finally one said - I guess a picture soes paint a thousand words. My colleague then put up one slide from a lecturer and none of the others could work out what it said as it has some many graphs superimposed on each other. My sheer coincidence I was working on a bible (why it have never been done no idea) when some travelling missionaries knocked on the door. I had just got to the bit in Samuel 2 where God's chosen, King David, sent a man off to certain death in a battle so he could marry the man's wife. They went away
I really appreciate your post Georgina.Before I came here I had no idea of alt txt but now make sure it is always on my photos. I also try to spread the word outside Fediverse.
@MelSedds I didn't know what the Alt was for until an account (or maybe a bot) boosting cat pictures told me I should provide it. I've done so ever since (and edited the ones I posted before that) and besides the obvious benefit, I find creating the descriptions and sometimes giving more context great fun ☺️ (I even learned some new words when I wanted to give accurate descriptions, like calyx.)
something I’m never sure about is how much text in alt-text is too much. I generally stay as coincise as possible by describing what’s actually interesting in the image for the conversation, which may include written texts or not. Do you think vision-impaired readers may prefer a more complete description?
@lydiaschoch I find that I will put extra information in the alt text. Joke that's not in the post itself, perhaps. Pointing out what's strange in the picture. Explaining the joke. Something like it's a SPOILER tag you're only going to get if you check the alt text.
@xinit ☕ @Fedo ¶ @Lydia Schoch Wow! What a wonderful idea! Please forgive my ignorance, but is alt text something that sighted readers can see, or is it only available to screen readers? If so, this is one of the few times in which we actually get to have something that the rest of the world doesn't. If not, it's a great way to encourage sighted people to pay attention to the importance of alt text.
all the client applications i see allow anyone to see alt texts, there's a little "alt" button in the corner of the images. i think that does helps a lot for people to remember to put alt texts
@zy Some Mastodon sites offer to translate a post into the reader's language, which also translates the ALT text. As someone who likes to read posts in languages I'm not fluent with, it helps a lot to understand the pictures as well (e.g. memes or comic strips).
@zy You can also follow an alt text not that will remind you when you forget to add alt text. It just sends you a message requesting that you add alt text
on desktop web browsers, there's a tag in the corner of an image - either ALT or just a scary red exclamation mark (indicating that there's no ALT text).
If a user drags the mouse pointer over the image, the alt text is visible to sighted users. I think most mobile apps show it on a click, but I don't really remember.
The IMG ALT tag (more correctly, the ALT attribute of the IMG tag) has been a part of the HTML standard since the mid 1990s. I'm sighted. I haven't tested with a screen reader, but when looking at a Fedi post from a Web browser, the alt text is in the IMG ALT tag. Mouse over, and it just displays the alt text. Most other social networking platforms seem to put the alt text behind a "click the small ALT button and a popup will pop up" mechanism.
I'm sighted and I often look at the alt text on Fediverse graphics!
It's great for things like "here's a person I don't recognise, are they famous, is it a clip from a show and what's the show and why is it relevant here". There are cultural references which would just whoosh over my head without the description.
Or sometimes there'll be one like "photo of woodland, with a squirrel" and I'll be like "oh yeah! there _is_ a squirrel in the corner there" 😀
thank you for your kind words and especially thank you for making me discover altbot! It will make it easier to write alt text (but I will try to personalise it as much as I can anyway) 😀
Filling out alt text can be fun too because you can put your own snarky spin on things, so the benefit is mutual. You and other people who need it are so welcome here!
I was always wondering "Am I trying to explain with too much detail? Is it too little? Does anyone actually ever use alt text of my images?" This post gave me all the answers I needed! Thanks! All hail fediverse 😀
@Lironah @HeliaXyana I sometimes write in what I was feeling when taking the photograph, like one time I took a picture of clouds, and I said something like they looked great when I looked up in the sky and saw them, but the picture is crappy.... I find it fun to add such silly details in the alt text.
@dilmandila @Lironah Yes, good point. There is space for a little fun in there. When the subjective is the point of sharing the image, I think that's precisely what you should do.
@HeliaXyana I often use alt text to better understand an image, so I think it would be helpful. What should the viewer take away from seeing the image? If you were describing it to someone over the phone, what would you draw their attention to? Mood and meaning are definitely part of that.
@Hareguizer Well, there in lies the difficulty. I dislike instructing others in how they should see my work. Like in a gallery or museum, I like to keep the accompanying text relatively objective, as I feel all interpretations are valid. But that's not very helpful for those who cannot see it.
@HeliaXyana yes, and I can see it could be easy to go too far. Still, a reader can choose to stop reading at any point. I have never been troubled by too much alt text. There are whole essays on writing ‘good alt text’ but I think the important thing is to have alt text.
@Hareguizer Yes, I might be overthinking this a tad. Still, it's good to differentiate between intensions for descriptions. I've seen a museum boast about accessibility when the images only had a description from the artists, clearly intended for those able to view the work.
@Lydia Vvinters @Kris Herbert I can understand why you're thinking about it in this manner. Certainly, there is a case to be made both ways. If it's strictly meant for information, then short and to the point is good. But if it's about art, photography, etc. then it might make sense to describe it in more detail. But not all of us have seen in the past. So using metaphors, for example, sound pretty but may not truly help us understand what is in the image. It would be like saying "a woman with a face that looks like my mother's is sitting in a chair, holding a book." If you know what my mother looks like, it's fine. But if you don't, it will have no meaning for you. Likewise, I could say "the chair is beautiful" or I can say "the chair has ornate carvings of flowers on the back and has a velvet cushion". The latter tells me a lot more.
Yes, that's the problem. I see it as something that should match the intension but in the case of art, that can also be subjective. So in this case, if it's a work of art, I would be tempted to describe why this chair is beautiful to me.
Something like, "The soft lighting on the chair and the delicate carving evoke a sense of nostalgia in me."
@ClintonAnderson I have read that Title Case / Camel Case in hashtags is considered more accessible and therefore the standard. Of course, hashtags here are not case sensitive, so you are not limiting your audience with differing capitalization schemes.
@nunesdennis My technique is to imagine that I'm sitting in a movie theater next to someone who can't see the screen, and I have to whisper what I see to them so that they can be part of the experience. Of course, I don't pretend that my ALT descriptions are perfect or accurate, but they are an extension of my own expression, with my own flaws, mistakes, and way of describing things. And well, I'm a human, not a machine, so I guess that's part of the homemade charm. 😺
@davidrevoy @nunesdennis also, at minimum, consider that the default is something like "image." So even the difference between "photo" and "screenshot" and "meme" at least provides handles on what they're missing.
Obviously enough detail to be included in the conversation is better & elaboration on what's notable or aesthetic is best. Someone could always ask a question if they were curious, but not if they have insufficient info.
I usually elaborate on why it's nice: see attached
Oh, one other alt-text rule I follow. Sometimes an image contains no additional information at all. When this is the case, I actually say so, as briefly as possible. If the post already describes the image fully, I just caption "As described". If multiple photos contain the same thing, I just say "ibid." (or maybe "a burning dumpster", "same dumpster from another angle", "ibid.", "ibid."). If I *say* there's no useful information, a screen reader user won't have to *wonder* why it's blank.
@davidrevoy @nunesdennis I suggest turning on audio description for a movie that has it available. You’ll usually find a variety of styles and not all are as elaborate as you might imagine. The most important thing is making an effort and understanding your purpose for sharing the image can guide your effort.
How well do very general descriptions of popular media references tend to work for members of your community? For example:
Scene from The Empire Strikes Back, Lando Calrissian muttering to himself "This deal's getting worse all the time..."
I'd hope major hits like Star Wars have been made as accessible as possible over the years, but still worry such minimal scene-setting might perpetuate a "you had to be there" feeling of exclusion.
Manche machen sich Sorgen, dass ihre Beschreibungen nicht gut genug sind, vor allem, wenn sie neu auf diesem Gebiet sind. Ich kann Ihnen versichern, dass sie nicht nur gut genug sind, sondern auch sehr geschätzt werden! Wenn der Rest der Welt so denken würde wie Sie, wäre es ein viel besserer Ort. Zögern Sie nicht zu fragen, wenn Sie sich bei etwas unsicher sind, aber denken Sie nicht, dass wir Ihre Bemühungen nicht bemerken.
Einige schreiben die Beschreibungen selbst, andere verwenden Tools wie altbot. Manche machen sich Sorgen, dass ihre Beschreibungen nicht gut genug sind, vor allem, wenn sie neu auf diesem Gebiet sind. Ich kann Ihnen versichern, dass sie nicht nur gut genug sind, sondern auch sehr geschätzt werden! Wenn der Rest der Welt so denken würde wie Sie, wäre es ein viel besserer Ort. …
I admit that sometimes I struggle with alt tags. Understanding what there is to see in a picture is one thing, but providing info within the context of the overall post seems like it can come in handy
Curious to know if you tried Bluesky. I ask bc I thought Bluesky has a way to caption images.
I have an old art school friend who went gradually blind, and think of how I would describe my photos to her when I write my alt-text. I remember when she was sighted how much she enjoyed the act of looking, really catching this or that detail I hadn’t noticed, and I try to satisfy that, however I can, in text.
The Fediverse is also one of the few networks that actually allows you to edit the alt text directly. The only other ones I can think of are WordPress and Pinterest.
For the people who worry that their alt text isn't good enough - just keep practicing.
And consider how long it takes to read the ALT text. Was this a throw-away decorative image? Something brief should be fine. Was this image the thing you wanted to share? Time to be more descriptive.
Thank you so much for posting this! I always include alt-text, but started doing so consistently mostly because self-appointed alt-text cops kept needling me anytime I left it out. This is the first time an alt-text user has actually said something nice about it (that I've seen in my feed, anyway).
Very kind of you to take a moment and say you appreciate it. I will continue to include it.
@SamanthaJaneSmith In so many different kinds of art - it depends! I would describe what strikes me. So, "Portrait of a person standing next to a window but entirely made up of straight brushstrokes no single one shorter than the length of the face." Or, "Bold black lines intersect across a white canvas with a single square of yellow towards the upper right corner."
@SamanthaJaneSmith Honestly, if you don't know how on something specific - reach out and ask. If I'm around I'm happy to give it a go, but there's also the hashtag ALT4Me which will summon a figurative army to help you out 😁
this is the first thing I read right after I went back in and edited my ALTtext for the second time because I didn't think it was detailed enough. Just need to keep trying. Thank you for posting this!
That's fantastic. Alt tags have been around since I started coding for the web 30 years ago and yet for some reason it's taken this generation of social media to integrate them fully. I'm so glad you can join us fully!
I always try to add Alt Text ... and I just discovered that on Pixelfed you can switch on a setting that forces you to add Alt Text. Great idea so I've turned it on on my Pixelfed account.
@Xanathon That would be truly wonderful! But honestly, even just using AltBot normally is fine, since the descriptions usually appear as a post right after the original.
@ConnyDuck So what? She says it would be nice Alt text in the photo, but if this is difficult, then alt text in the form of a post from an altbot is enough. This proves my point about inconvenience. It would be convenient if the image was recognized and the text was inserted at the stage of writing the post! I have already raised this issue with the developer of Tusky. I love this app and hope the developer will implement this feature.
THANK YOU for this! I struggle to create alt text and it feels like it is a waste of time as nobody actually reads it. I will now keep your post and use it to motivate myself to create alt texts and enjoy knowing it matters rather than feel like it is pointless.
Is it enough to have the Altbot text as a comment to my post or would it be better for you and others if I transfer the Altbot description to the image alt text?
@Xanathon That would be truly wonderful! But honestly, even just using AltBot normally is fine, since the descriptions usually appear as a post right after the original.
Thanks for the information. So far I used ChatGPT manually for descriptions of my scifi and fantasy renders because Google's LLM was very lacking. I will keep that up, but for photographies or simpler images I will use Altbot. That was a very valuable hint, thanks again!
@Memere I am a seeing person, but I love alt text for the added info or insight into the personality of the poster and what's important to them. Sometimes they contain jokes.
As a sighted person who posts pics, I find I enjoy writing alt-text descriptions, so I don't mind it or think of it as a burden. I often find something new to appreciate in the picture as I think about how to describe it, and it feels nice to be doing something intentionally inclusive as well. I hope you don't think we're all begrudgingly doing something we hate, because some of us embrace it and are glad to do it.
@josh susser Oh, no. Definitely not, and that's really the point. It's wonderful to see people who care so deeply about inclusivity. Your own experience makes it even more meaningful, since both sides are benefiting. All of this is a lovely change from what I see elsewhere.
I'm so glad it's helpful! It's such an important skill for us to practice, too. It is so heartening to see not just the accessibility itself, but the solidarity—many people won't share a post that lacks alt text. That helps keep it front & center as an expectation rather than a bonus.
@Nat Oleander It's just a pity that if you post about an obscure enough niche topic like I do, it's the more difficult to make image posts perfectly accessible to everyone, the more obscure the topic is. For the more obscure the topic is, the more you have to describe, and the more you have to explain. (Caution: Never put explanations into alt-text! They must go where everyone can access them.)
I currently write the longest image descriptions in the whole Fediverse by a wide margin. But they may not actually be accessible enough, even though I describe all my original images twice.
The short descriptions in the alt-text don't always contain text transcripts, especially not all of them, and being only short descriptions, they aren't full, detailed visual descriptions either. The long descriptions for the same images in the post regularly end up with a five-digit character count. They may not be accessible because they're way too long. But sometimes they're the only place wher
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@Nat Oleander It's just a pity that if you post about an obscure enough niche topic like I do, it's the more difficult to make image posts perfectly accessible to everyone, the more obscure the topic is. For the more obscure the topic is, the more you have to describe, and the more you have to explain. (Caution: Never put explanations into alt-text! They must go where everyone can access them.)
I currently write the longest image descriptions in the whole Fediverse by a wide margin. But they may not actually be accessible enough, even though I describe all my original images twice.
The short descriptions in the alt-text don't always contain text transcripts, especially not all of them, and being only short descriptions, they aren't full, detailed visual descriptions either. The long descriptions for the same images in the post regularly end up with a five-digit character count. They may not be accessible because they're way too long. But sometimes they're the only place where all text transcripts can be found. And they are the only place where explanations can be found.
So the consequence should be that I quit posting my original images because they're impossible to make perfectly accessible to everyone, at least as long as there is no rock-solid definition for what's actually required in image descriptions in my obscure edge-case. But there isn't even any consensus on whether text that's illegible or that's so tiny that it's basically invisible must be transcribed if it can be sourced.
@Jupiter Rowland @Nat Oleander I'm a bit confused. If you write long descriptions, why wouldn't that help to make your images accessible? Alt text doesn't need to be perfect. It just needs to give us an idea of what is in the image. It's certainly wonderful when more details are given, but even having an idea of what is going on is better than nothing.
@Georgiana Brummell I'd say not everyone would consider almost 1,000 characters of image description in a 1,500-character alt-text accessible. And even fewer people would consider a long image description in the post itself that's tens of thousands of characters long accessible if your screen reader spends an hour or several rambling it down.
My most extreme case is a post with only one image. That one image is described twice like all my halfway recent original images. The short description in the alt-text is a bit over 1,400 characters long which barely leaves any room for the note that there is also a long description in the post itself. That long description is over 60,000 characters long. I'm not kidding. It took me two full days from getting up to going to bed to research for it and write it.
Now, there are a few dozen bits and pieces of text all over the image. At the resolution at which I've posted the image, two of them are ever so barely le
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@Georgiana Brummell I'd say not everyone would consider almost 1,000 characters of image description in a 1,500-character alt-text accessible. And even fewer people would consider a long image description in the post itself that's tens of thousands of characters long accessible if your screen reader spends an hour or several rambling it down.
My most extreme case is a post with only one image. That one image is described twice like all my halfway recent original images. The short description in the alt-text is a bit over 1,400 characters long which barely leaves any room for the note that there is also a long description in the post itself. That long description is over 60,000 characters long. I'm not kidding. It took me two full days from getting up to going to bed to research for it and write it.
Now, there are a few dozen bits and pieces of text all over the image. At the resolution at which I've posted the image, two of them are ever so barely legible for sighted people. They're on a large logo on a building. Four more, two of them on that logo, too, two more on a sign on an easel, are illegible, but still visible. At least more on signs inside the building are visible, but they can't easily be identified as text. All the others are so tiny that they're invisible. It takes the long image description to even know where they are, for example, on the control panels of teleporters.
And yet, they are all within the borders of the image. And I can transcribe them. I can't read them in the image, but I can go to the place shown in the image and take closer looks.
Unfortunately, the rule or guideline that any and all text in an image must be transcribed verbatim does not take into consideration text that can't be read in the image, but that can be sourced and thus transcribed by whoever posts the image. No confirmation, no exception. And so I have to assume that I have to transcribe illegible text as well. And so I do transcribe them all.
But there's no way for me to put all these text transcripts into the alt-text, not if I want to keep Mastodon, Misskey and their forks from chopping it off at the 1,500-character mark. I'd also have to explain where all these pieces of text are, after all. And so the text transcripts are only available in the 60,000-character monster of a long image description.
It isn't really accessible to expect blind users to have their screen readers ramble and ramble and ramble for hours, just to get information that should actually belong into the alt-text which, in turn, shouldn't be longer than 200 characters.
On the other hand, it doesn't really seem accessible to me if I expect people to ask me to describe things in the image for them. It rather feels sloppy, if not out-right ableist to not describe everything that someone could possibly want to know right away.
The problem with my images is that they're renderings from very obscure 3-D virtual worlds. This means that nobody knows what anything in these images looks like unless they can see these images. This, in turn, means that I cannot expect anyone to know what something in my images looks like anyway. They don't.
At the same time, I can't expect everyone to not care about my images. In fact, I expect the very topic of 3-D virtual worlds that actually exist to make people curious. At this point, it doesn't matter what's important in my images within the context of the post. Sighted people will go explore the new and unknown world by taking closer looks at all the big and small details in the image.
But blind or visually-impaired people may be just as curious. They may want the same chance to explore this new world by experiencing what's in that one image. Denying them the same chances as sighted people is ableist. But giving them this chance requires an absolutely titanic image description.
Sure, I describe lots of details which a sighted person can't possibly recognise when looking at the image, especially not at the resolution of the image as I've posted it. But I simply can't keep telling blind or visually-impaired people that certain things in the image can't be recognised due to the image resolution. It feels lazy, like weaseling out. I mean, I can see all these details. Not in the image, but where the image was made, simply by walking closer to them or moving the camera closer to them.
If there are two dark objects inside a building that may or may not be plants, but that can't be identified as plants by looking at the image, why shouldn't I describe them as follows: "On the sides of the teleport panel, there are two identical açaí palms in square terracotta pots with wide rims. Like the other potted plants, these mostly dark green plants with long pointy leaves are kept at an indoor-compatible size, namely about three and a half metres or eleven and a half feet tall. Also, like the other potted plants, they are made of only four flat surfaces with partially transparent pictures of the plant on them, arranged in angles of 45 degrees to one another."
If there's room for improvement in my image descriptions, I improve my future image descriptions and declare my past image descriptions outdated. In fact, the 60,000-character-long description is outdated because it's bad style to describe dimension using measures. Instead, dimensions should be described by comparing them with something everyone is familiar with like body parts.
Right now, by the way, I'm upping my game at describing avatars, using rules and guidelines for describing people which I've discovered over the last few months. The last time I've described an avatar, I've done so in about 7,000 characters, but according to my new discoveries, I may have missed something.
However, I can't go into so much detail while still making my image descriptions short enough that a screen reader can read through them in under a minute.
@Jupiter Rowland @Nat Oleander Oh my goodness! Now I see what you mean. Even as a lover of nineteenth-century writing and proper English, that's long, especially for alt text!
What went into the actual alt-text of the image were 1,402 characters of visual description + 97 characters of notice that there's a long description in the post. The over 60,000 characters went into the post text body, right below the image itself.
I could have put the long description into the alt-text. But it would have been a nightmare for blind or visually-impaired people because screen readers can't navigate alt-text. Also, Mastodon, Glitch, Hometown, Misskey, Calckey, Firefish, Iceshrimp, CherryPick, Sharkey, Catodon and the other Mastodon and Misskey forks chop long alt-texts from outside off at the 1,500-character mark. Mastodon would simply have deleted almost 59,000 characters from my image description on their side, had I put it into the alt-text.
Thank you for the encourageing words. I am one of those people who always think that the descriptions are somehow not good enough and end up overthinking it...
Thank you for saying this. I had never written alt text before joining the fediverse, but I’ve come to appreciate the opportunity it gives me to think about why I posted the image and what’s worth knowing about it. I still do worry, but I feel more relaxed thanks to your post.
I often spend more time writing alt text than the text in the toot itself - not just to keep the toot itself as short as possible.
Writing alt text, even if using energy, is useful for myself as well. In particular in the case of photo's, it makes me look better. Often I notice details that I missed before.
What I like about Mastodon is the enormous variety in people, from all over the world, one can meet here and discuss with. Even if I'm not an "easy person", it enriches my life.
I often spend more time writing alt text than the text in the toot itself - not just to keep the toot itself as short as possible.
I always spend more time describing my images than writing the post that they go into.
For my meme posts, that's because I have to explain the picture and find the appropriate links to external explanations (KnowYourMeme etc.) to shorten my explanation block if possible.
For my original images, it's because I have to describe them twice. There's always an alt-text which, as of late, fills the 1,500-character limit imposed by Mastodon, Misskey etc. to the brim. But that alt-text is only a shortened and slightly adapted version of an extremely long long description which goes into the post text body and which also includes transcripts of any and all text in the image, readable or not, as well as all explanations which I deem necessary for outsiders to understand the image.
I often spend more time writing alt text than the text in the toot itself - not just to keep the toot itself as short as possible.
I always spend more time describing my images than writing the post that they go into.
For my meme posts, that's because I have to explain the picture and find the appropriate links to external explanations (KnowYourMeme etc.) to shorten my explanation block if possible.
For my original images, it's because I have to describe them twice. There's always an alt-text which, as of late, fills the 1,500-character limit imposed by Mastodon, Misskey etc. to the brim. But that alt-text is only a shortened and slightly adapted version of an extremely long long description which goes into the post text body and which also includes transcripts of any and all text in the image, readable or not, as well as all explanations which I deem necessary for outsiders to understand the image. Since the images are about an extremely obscure niche topic, this means I have to explain a lot.
A while ago, I spent two full days, morning to evening, researching for and describing and explaining one single image. The result was probably the longest image description ever posted in the Fediverse. And I actually had to limit myself, otherwise the description would have been even vastly longer and taken over a month to complete. Good thing I don't have any character limit to worry about. The only exception is that Mastodon may reject posts from outside with over 100,000 characters.
@modulux Also, thanks for the simple fact, that every Fediverse server has a publicly full-featured API, so it is possible to write a client which you want to use, and you do not have to use what some corporation gives you, on platforms of its choosing. Also, thank you again for the image descriptions, they're really appreciated.
Thanks for this post. I’m a person who always try to add descriptions, reallly wonder if I am doing it right, and have always wondered if anyone ever looked at them.
A while back, I built an exhibit I thought people would find interesting.
The first place I took it, I was thanked for having an exhibit which was accessible for the visually-impaired (I'm not certain about totally blind). I hadn't even thought of it that way!
You can read my write-up here. Unfortunately, the "caption" property on the images kind of conflicts with the "alt text" property, and I don't know which one you'll get.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who finds themselves paying more attention to their alt text than the actual post or image, both because it just seems right but also because it's kind of fun to put a little lighthearted humor. If a picture is a thousand words then the inverse must also be true.
I'm so glad to hear this! I put alt text on my photos and I try to get the important bits without overthinking it. I say what a thing is, list the colors it's in if that's important, explain the composition if that's important - all those old photo classes discussing images help with doing this, I've found.
If there’s no #Alt4Me tag on the undescribed image, it’s still worth being polite as no one wants bad feelings generated around the topic of descriptions. You might want to just reply with a description and #Alt4You tag, and if they’re abled they will hopefully get the message that descriptions are preferred.
I struggle with mine, that are not photos. The asemic art collage compositions I create can be very chaotic. Asemic writing & deconstructed text removes meaning, leaving the codes and conventions of writing and text. A combination of various colours, textures, irregular shapes and lines is an accurate over all description, but the devilishness is in the details. Sometimes I succeed, sometimes I fail. I've tried using the Alt-for-me tag, but nobody responded.
If you don't mind my asking - as a comic artist, I usually post full comic pages. There isn't enough alt text room to fully transcribe the page, so usually l will write something like "Page X of the comic Love and Hex. Full transcript: (link to an external page with both the comic image and a complete transcript)" followed by a broader description of what's going on without much detail.
Does that sort of thing suffice, or is there a preferred approach?
Are there things your screen reader has trouble with or that make listening more tedious?
I remember from years ago there was a sequence preference for some things. For example, with lists, I think the preference was word first, then tick box or radio button.
Yes. That still exists and is all part of WCAG, the guidelines used to create accessible websites, documents, etc. I am still learning it, so I can't answer from a professional point of view. But from a personal one, I find emoticons, emojis, etc. to be annoying, especially when they're used consecutively. "hands clapping" twenty times, for example, or during e-mails or other important communication. I don't mind if someone includes a few in his posts. Websites with clutter, such as adds in the middle of articles, hamburger menus, strange edit boxes, and pages that try to refresh when I read them are annoying, and of course, captchas without any audio option can be not only frustrating but actual barriers. I also convert all pdfs to txt. But as far as alt text, not much causes trouble. Sometimes, having many tags in the beginning or middle of a post, instead of at the end, can be confusing, since I have no way of just scrolling passed them.
I often get tasked to write alt-text descriptions for the images accompanying SEO blogs. I've read a couple of guides with recommendations for what's most "salient" in alt-text (some of them said, "Don't lead with 'image of' & I thought "'oh ... DUH'"), but is there anything particular that you find especially helpful? Like identifying overhead view or differentiating between foreground vs. background?? Is it context-dependent?
Don't hesitate to ask if you're unsure of something, but never think that we don't notice your effort.
I do have a few questions, specifically because my image posts have gone unnoticed by blind or visually-impaired users so far.
Judging and assuming from the information I've gathered so far, my original images require very extensive and detailed descriptions. A full description is too long for alt-text, so what I do is write a full description with all text transcripts and all necessary explanations, put it into the post text body and then condense a shorter, but still long alt-text from it. What's your stance on this method of describing the same image twice over?
Also, where would you personally prefer a long description? In the post itself? Or in an external document that's linked into the post? If you're on a phone app, remember that the external document will inevitably open your Web browser.
Do you prefer images described, based on what a sighted person can see in the image as it is posted? Or do you prefer a description that is
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Don't hesitate to ask if you're unsure of something, but never think that we don't notice your effort.
I do have a few questions, specifically because my image posts have gone unnoticed by blind or visually-impaired users so far.
Judging and assuming from the information I've gathered so far, my original images require very extensive and detailed descriptions. A full description is too long for alt-text, so what I do is write a full description with all text transcripts and all necessary explanations, put it into the post text body and then condense a shorter, but still long alt-text from it. What's your stance on this method of describing the same image twice over?
Also, where would you personally prefer a long description? In the post itself? Or in an external document that's linked into the post? If you're on a phone app, remember that the external document will inevitably open your Web browser.
Do you prefer images described, based on what a sighted person can see in the image as it is posted? Or do you prefer a description that is not limited by the restriction of the image itself, for example, assuming an infinite image resolution and an infinite zoom factor that would let sighted people theoretically see even tiniest details?
If I mention something in my image description of which you don't know what it looks like, do you need a detailed visual description?
Concerning text transcripts: Let's assume a bit of text in an image is too small to be legible for sighted people, but I can read it at the original source, so I can transcribe it nonetheless. Shall I transcribe it? What about if said text is too small to be recognisable as text or so tiny that's it's practically invisible? I mean, after all, the concept of image resolution should not matter to totally blind people, so writing that a piece of text can't be read because the resolution of the image is too low ought to sound like a lame excuse for skimping a transcript.
If there's a building in one of my images, I can safely assume that you don't know what that one specific building looks like, so I guess I can also assume that you need it described. If I could, I would do so using architectural terms and then explaining all these architectural terms right after using them. Would you say that's the correct way? Because that's why I avoid having realistic buildings in my images.
If there's an image in my image, do you need it described? At a level that I can source right where the image is without moving away too far, or at a level that I can only source by moving farther away to the place shown in the image? What about an image in an image in my image? (I'm serious. I've actually described images within images within my image, but I've stopped when this was about to go out of hand due to there being too many to describe.)
I'm currently working on a series of posts with images showing a virtual-world avatar in various but similar outfits; in fact, I have been since last year. I may have questions later regarding at what level of detail I have to describe that avatar.
And - everyone sighted, please, let us worry a bit about our descriptions. It's a good thing to worry about. That is, many of our worries are about things that are completely out of our hands. Alt texts are something we can act on. We can think about what we see in a picture, what's important to us, what we want to convey, what we should describe. We can talk about it with each other, try things out, and get better at it.
I've shared this post of you because more people need to know that Alt Text and Image Descriptions are not only good but are appreciated by those that rely on them!
The strenght of the Fediverse is based upon it's diversity, and that must include accessibility!
After all it's easy for sighted people to dismiss it when in reality it doesn't take away anything from them if they just write a sentence or two per image.
I hate it when I can't edit the alt text exactly for this same reason! Every social network shoud let everyone do it! I forget from time to time because I'm always rushing to get the post done and be gone x'D and it's enfuriating
I do my best with this. It's extra writing, and I love the sound of my own voice even in text, so I actually find it fun and not a chore.
Still, Fedi really taught me how important it is and how to do it well, and I'm thankful for that. I've been on the periphery of web dev since before it was called "web dev" so I knew what alt text was. But I'll confess to never doing it particularly well before I came here.
You know what? This is a nice post. I never thought much about this. #Fedilab gives me a big yellow warning when there's no #alttext so I just fill it in. But as someone who's only worry is overstimulation it rarely really crosses my mind. This is a good reminder that it dóés matter, and reading it makes me happy I fill it in.
BlueSky has an option in the settings that forces you to add alt-text before posting an image or video. If people still aren't adding alt text, that is definitely a choice they are making, and it's not a good choice IMHO.
I appreciate you saying this. Is there a list of alttext generators that most people here use? I am trying to use them as much as possible. I will definitely look up altbot.
This is wonderful! Please may I ask - I was just adding some alt text to an image and wondered if there's a convention when the text on the post adequately describes the image or I struggle to describe it again without repetition, is alt text still needed/is it annoying listening to it again, or do you always prefer alt text? Thanks!
@James 🦉 #FBPE 🇪🇺 No. if you describe it, then the alt text really shouldn't be needed. The whole purpose of the alt text is to describe the image, so if that's what you're doing, you don't need to do it twice. However, there may be an exception. Let's say that you have a picture, and "grandma's delicious cake" is written on the picture. Since it's inside the image, a screen reader most likely wouldn't be able to read that without some other extraction/ocr tool. So in that case, you could write the text. Whether you choose to add details "the cake is in a pan, sitting on a large table", is up to you.
@James 🦉 #FBPE 🇪🇺 I actually just saw something very interesting, directly related to our conversation! Someone posted an image with two descriptions. It seemed that he wrote one and then something like Altbot wrote the other. It was fascinating, because while they were describing the same thing, the second was more detailed. Yet either one could have worked and provided the same information. That said, here, the focus was on the image. It wasn't just there in the background with text, so while the double description wasn't technically necessary, it worked.
I'm curious about your browsing setup, do you mind if I ask about it? (I've gone back and added alt text to any images I've posted to try and be worthy)
@Gary Brazzell The only other social platforms I've used are Facebook and Dreamwidth. On Facebook, I've never seen alt tags at all. Dreamwidth is a journalling site, so it's really a different thing entirely. I do love the alt text here, though. I was very surprised when I first saw it, and even more so at how many people use them and even refuse to boost images without them! So it was an extremely wonderful thing to realise. As for accessibility, the Basic Mobile site (not app) of Facebook used to be very accessible. Their shutting it down is what made me come to Friendica. I mostly use it via a client called TweeseCake. I am finding various inaccessible features, or at least ones that cause a lot of a nnoyance, on the main site and intend to write to the Friendica Support group about it. Mastodon seems to be accessible from my glancing at it while reading people's profiles.
This is uplifting. May there be a riddle to honor people with visual impairments who found themselves welcome within the Federation. “Whom does not see, yet has thousands of eyes writing for them?”
@zy @shred @dandylover1 When I get a message in German, the alt text is also in German (for example). It makes it easy to copy and paste into an internet translator.
I have found it helpful when the words are embedded in the picture too. Just go to the alt text and cut and paste.
I'm so happy that it helps people with vision problems.
(I had no idea German would be so important in 2025, but here we are.)
I previously used alt tests only on my Mastodon posts (I post images here only very occasionally), but this kind of comments really convinced me that I should just bite the bullet and write alt texts for Pixelfed images from now on, too. Because that's what I *ought* to be doing.
*Updated.* Hello. I joined Friendica in October of 2024, after Facebook closed their Basic Mobile site (not app). I live in New Jersey and am forty-one years old. Some of my interests include studying dandyism, nineteenth-century grammar, Upper Received Pronunciation, British history, and the Regency. I like coffee, tea, wine, nasal snuff, cooking, hot baths, reading British literature, watching nature and historical documentaries, gardening, hot weather, and playing cards and dice. I also love cats. In classical music, I enjoy Baroque through a bit of early Romantic, while in popular, I usually prefer 1950's through 1970's. I love theatre (especially English and Viennese operettas, Edwardian musical comedies), and some Regency/Georgian plays. I prefer antique menswear and accessories. It's my dream to either buy a genuine Edwardian suit or have one commissioned. I love wit, wordplay, and dry humour without vulgarity. My parents are lesbians, and I am a huge gay rights supporter, but I stop short of using singular they and promoting the idea of more than two sexes, though you c
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*Updated.* Hello. I joined Friendica in October of 2024, after Facebook closed their Basic Mobile site (not app). I live in New Jersey and am forty-one years old. Some of my interests include studying dandyism, nineteenth-century grammar, Upper Received Pronunciation, British history, and the Regency. I like coffee, tea, wine, nasal snuff, cooking, hot baths, reading British literature, watching nature and historical documentaries, gardening, hot weather, and playing cards and dice. I also love cats. In classical music, I enjoy Baroque through a bit of early Romantic, while in popular, I usually prefer 1950's through 1970's. I love theatre (especially English and Viennese operettas, Edwardian musical comedies), and some Regency/Georgian plays. I prefer antique menswear and accessories. It's my dream to either buy a genuine Edwardian suit or have one commissioned. I love wit, wordplay, and dry humour without vulgarity. My parents are lesbians, and I am a huge gay rights supporter, but I stop short of using singular they and promoting the idea of more than two sexes, though you can certainly lean more towards one while being the other (as I do being a masculine woman), or change from one to the other via hormones, surgery etc. I have been totally blind since I was two months old, due to Retinopathy of Prematurity.
I am happily childfree and am not religious. I hardly ever write about politics. I tend to get along better with people older than I, but I will accept friends twenty-one and over. I have no understanding of chronic illness, anxiety, depression, loneliness, etc. I enjoy hearing about cats, cooking or gardening adventures, antiques, and interesting life stories.
This is my journal. Anyone can read or comment, whether or not he is a member.
Things I have no interestt in seeing: Politics, posts in foreign languages that I don't understand, posts with obscenities, bickering over who joins what network, posts about what leaders of various networks do, vegan activism/ promotion, images without descriptions, world affairs (non-Western), posts about mental health, etc.
Things I am Constantly Seeing Politics, posts in foreign languages that I don't understand, more politics, posts with obscenities, bickering over who joins what network, posts about what leaders of various networks do, yet more politics, vegan activism/ promotion, images without descriptions (very rare here, thankfully), still more politics, world affairs and wars (non-Western), posts about mental health, and you guessed it, even more politics! At least I don't see all of the inspirational/love yourself, or religious posts. Those are just as annoying.
Posts I Would Like to See: Animals (especially cats and birds), plants, insects, high culture (theatre, classical music, fine dining, literature, fashion, etc.), cooking/recipes, history, s
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Things I have no interestt in seeing: Politics, posts in foreign languages that I don't understand, posts with obscenities, bickering over who joins what network, posts about what leaders of various networks do, vegan activism/ promotion, images without descriptions, world affairs (non-Western), posts about mental health, etc.
Things I am Constantly Seeing Politics, posts in foreign languages that I don't understand, more politics, posts with obscenities, bickering over who joins what network, posts about what leaders of various networks do, yet more politics, vegan activism/ promotion, images without descriptions (very rare here, thankfully), still more politics, world affairs and wars (non-Western), posts about mental health, and you guessed it, even more politics! At least I don't see all of the inspirational/love yourself, or religious posts. Those are just as annoying.
Posts I Would Like to See: Animals (especially cats and birds), plants, insects, high culture (theatre, classical music, fine dining, literature, fashion, etc.), cooking/recipes, history, science for non-scientists, technology (not just how to write websites or who's doing what in the Fediverse), audio games, good news, interesting discussions, people's daily lives (yes, I know this is not Dreamwidth), etc.
@Meg I would absolutely love to know how to block specific words and phrases! I have looked all over the Friendica.world site and I couldn't find any way to do this. I also couldn't find anything in TweeseCake itself. @Fedi.Tips Can you please help? Is this possible? I had to unfollow several otherwise wonderful people over this.
I just saw something extremely interesting that I have never seen before. It doesn't appear to be the usual overlay, but I didn't explore it, having just found it about two minutes ago.
"This website is AudioEye enabled and is being optimized for accessibility. To open the AudioEye Toolbar, press "shift + =". Some assistive technologies may require the use of a passthrough function before this keystroke. For more information, activate the button labeled “Explore your accessibility options”."
Since this post is about fashion, let me start by answering the question that I am sure will be on your mind upon seeing my name. No, I am not related to The Beau. However, I love dandyism as a whole, and I took this name in tribute. I am also working to have his book, Male and Female Costume, published online freely, but that's for another post and time. At any rate, I am forty-one and am passionate about antique menswear, Regency as a scholarly pursuit, and Edwardian for daily wear. Naturally, I am constantly researching and trying to expand upon my knowledge. I am totally blind, so I must rely on descriptions rather than images.
I am the type who would like to wear a three-piece suit and accessories everywhere I go. I've decided that for my first one, I should get a lounge suit, since I can wear it almost anywhere during the day, provided it's not a formal occasion. I will eventually have morning wear, white tie, black tie, and informal evening wear, but that's for later. I have found some sites which create reproductions of men's Edwardian suits, but most use synthetic m
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Since this post is about fashion, let me start by answering the question that I am sure will be on your mind upon seeing my name. No, I am not related to The Beau. However, I love dandyism as a whole, and I took this name in tribute. I am also working to have his book, Male and Female Costume, published online freely, but that's for another post and time. At any rate, I am forty-one and am passionate about antique menswear, Regency as a scholarly pursuit, and Edwardian for daily wear. Naturally, I am constantly researching and trying to expand upon my knowledge. I am totally blind, so I must rely on descriptions rather than images.
I am the type who would like to wear a three-piece suit and accessories everywhere I go. I've decided that for my first one, I should get a lounge suit, since I can wear it almost anywhere during the day, provided it's not a formal occasion. I will eventually have morning wear, white tie, black tie, and informal evening wear, but that's for later. I have found some sites which create reproductions of men's Edwardian suits, but most use synthetic materials and/or zippers, which I refuse to wear, and none uses fabrics of the proper thickness. I found sites that make women's suits with men's specifications (no ridiculous enhancements of breasts, butt, shallow pockets, soft colours, buttons on the wrong sides of shirts, etc.) but they only make modern clothing. Ebay and Etsy occasionally have some authentic pieces, but most are too formal for daily use, even by Edwardian standards! I am also having difficulty with finding some accessories, such as proper ties and socks without elastic. My other option is to have a suit commissioned, but for that, I need to find a good tailor. The best in the world, in my opinion, is Zack Pinsent, but he's in England and I'm in America (New Jersey).
I am seeking those who share my interest in antique menswear, and perhaps some advice as to where I can find such clothing and/or accessories.
For those who are interested in my journey so far, here is my dreamwidth post containing all sorts of links related to Regency and Edwardian menswear.
I wish to begin this by saying that nothing can replace the wonderful consideration of people adding alt text to their images. It is very much appreciated, and I thank you for doing it. But for those images without said descriptions, I found something truly useful. It's called AltBot, and it adds alt text to posts without descriptions. I just followed it a few hours ago. On TweeseCake, at least, you'll hear something like "image with no description", and when you go to the next post, you'll hear the bot's explanation of the image. If you wish to folow Altbot, it can be found at altbot@fuzzies.wtf. I don't know who created it, but I sincerely thank whoever did. If only such a lovely bot could work on all sites.
Though I'm sure you know of these already, you do say "If only such a lovely bot could work on all sites.", which leads me to think it may be worth linking to the describers for all screen readers. Jaws' picture smart is available in 2024 and 2025, I believe, and basic, though possibly out-dated, instructions are at toptechtidbits.com/239.html I say the instructions may be out of date only because they suggest that it is still part of the early adopter program. If you don't want to use the Jaws feature, github.com/SigmaNight/basilisk… or, for NVDA, github.com/aaclause/nvda-OpenA… both work well though cost a few pennies for each description. Alternatively, Be My Eyes offers free descriptions from one LLM model.
Explore the Picture Smart AI feature in JAWS and Fusion, offering enhanced accessibility with AI-powered visual descriptions. Learn about its easy activation, new keystrokes for image analysis, and the Early Adopter Program.
@Tech Singer I use NVDA with the Cloud Vision Ad-on. It's good, but it's nowhere near as good or descriptive as Altbot. There was another one (I forget its name) that used gemini and that was a bit more customisable, allowing a user to write a prompt, set the character limit, etc. , but google updated the version, so the ad-on no longer works. I believe it's available for other sites, though those do require payment.
I could never get really good descriptions with CloudVision, I'm not sure what LLM it's using, and gave up on it when I got the OpenAI add-on I mentioned, which has a much wider choice of models, can handle text prompts, and does more than describing images.
I am seeking assistance with singing and learning music theory. This could be in the form of teaching, giving advice, or just listening to me and sharing your opinion of my progress. This is not for a career, just for my own enrichment, though after the correct amount of time has passed, I may decide to take it further and sing publicly in some form or other, perhaps in a choir or a radio play. However, my requirements are quite specific, and I do realise this will be a long process.
Requirements 1. I have no interest in modern singers, musicians, or their techniques. I am using the book You Can Sing, by Clara Novello Davies, as a basis for everything, especially my physical and vocal exercises. I am interested in the techniques of her time and that of her son, Ivor Novello, with a focus on operetta, and perhaps, choral singing.
The above also holds for music theory. I am aligning my knowledge and methodology with what was taught during Ivor's time. A list of all the books I am using, as well as an explanation of the knowledge I have attained so far can be foun
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I am seeking assistance with singing and learning music theory. This could be in the form of teaching, giving advice, or just listening to me and sharing your opinion of my progress. This is not for a career, just for my own enrichment, though after the correct amount of time has passed, I may decide to take it further and sing publicly in some form or other, perhaps in a choir or a radio play. However, my requirements are quite specific, and I do realise this will be a long process.
Requirements 1. I have no interest in modern singers, musicians, or their techniques. I am using the book You Can Sing, by Clara Novello Davies, as a basis for everything, especially my physical and vocal exercises. I am interested in the techniques of her time and that of her son, Ivor Novello, with a focus on operetta, and perhaps, choral singing.
The above also holds for music theory. I am aligning my knowledge and methodology with what was taught during Ivor's time. A list of all the books I am using, as well as an explanation of the knowledge I have attained so far can be found here. This includes the differences between modern and older singers.
Please be aware that I am totally blind. I cannot use images, graphical charts, tables, musical notation, etc. Braille music does exist, but I don't know how to read it, and would need to have appropriate texts transcribed, in any case. I do, however, have perfect pitch, an excellent sense of rhythm, and a very good musical memory, so perhaps, we can work on modifications that don't truly cross the boundaries into modernity but that are still accessible.
If you do more than just give occasional advice, I'm sure you will want to be compensated for your work, as that's only right. Please be aware that I can only pay $25 per hour at the most, via Paypal. In that case, I can only work with you for about four hours per month, due to financial constraints, but of course, I will also study on my own. I may be able to do more, but not as a normal practice.
If you are a descendant of anyone who knew Clara Novello Davies , her students, or Ivor Novello, even if you yourself know nothing about singing, I would still love to hear from you if you have stories to share!
This is something I wrote on Dreamwidth in September. I think some of you may find it interesting. I myself am beginning to study all of this, as I am fascinated by the singing methods and knowledge of the time. It is a bit difficult doing it being blind and unable to read music, but fortunately, there are ways around that. My perfect pitch and good memory for lyrics also helps.
Below, you will find various links related to theory, harmony and counterpoint, and a comparison of older and modern methods of teaching and singing. While this relates to choirs and opera, it also relates to the theatre, particularly operettas and such.
Studying Music: Part I dandylover1.dreamwidth.org/205…
My one criterion was that the methods and books used had to be from the time of Ivor Novello, preferably from his youth (born 1893). If I were to start in the early nineteenth century, which is where most of my preferred non-musical educational material is from, I would miss extremely important developments in classical music. Starting at the birth of his mother, Clara Novello Davies, in 1861, would be fine. However, since her own book, which I am using as my main text and guide, was written in 1928, I went with that of her son. In the following sections, you will find the books I am using. One thing I have not included, though it was a huge influence in Ivor's own writing style, was theatrical music, such as that found in operettas and Edwardian musical comedies. That is such a large topic for discussion that I feel it deserves its own separate post, as does Ivor's music, since it's an interesting blend of all of the above. But this is well outside the scope of traditional musical study.
In the next entry, we will delve into vocal training and why the singers of Novello's time sound so wonderful.
Studying Music: Part II dandylover1.dreamwidth.org/205…
Finally, since I mentioned the exercises, here they are, for anyone who wants to try them. Note that these are the Preliminaries and Breathlock Physicals, not the vocal exercises. But I have provided the link to her book as well, for those who may wish to go further.
I know a little bit about music theory and enjoy singing myself, along with playing clarinet and sax. Happy to talk about music related stuff most anytime.
this may not be totally useful, but since you posted here you are obviously adept at novel internet things 😊 so I just thought I'd add that I have always found excellent music tutorials of all sorts on #SoulSeek
@Avalon Jazz Thank you. I sincerely appreciate it. But these are most likely quite modern, so aren't what I am seeking. But they can probably be of great use to others.
It has just come to my attention that there is only one developer of Friendica. It's a truly wonderful site, with a lot of potential, particularly for those of us coming from Facebook. It allows for extremely long posts, local posting, and you can follow and interact with people from various sites in the Fediverse. But there are a few issues regarding screen reader accessibility, and perhaps some things that I'm not aware of. I have therefore decided to create a Friendica development tag, in order to find people who are willing and able to help resolve these issues.
@Nick's world I use TweeseCake with it and it works very well. The main problems are on the site itself. Even then, it's not truly inaccessible. It's just that it could be better, with normal links instead of menus, and a way to edit posts without resorting to a client. But things do read, and it is possible to make and edit a profile, read and respond to posts, etc. TweeseCake just makes it easier. Pachli for Android also works well, but I prepfer Windows.
@Nick's world Oh, yes. It works very well! And unlike TWBlue, you can edit posts with it. I'm still not sure why they don't have that feature. They also don't allow long posts, as TweeseCake does, but if they're primarily built for Mastodon, that, at least, makes sense. They do allow you to see favourites, though, which TweeseCake seems to have a problem doing. They'll be displayed and then turn to numbers (1 of 250, for instance), and then disappear.
I am not sure how much Friendica has diverged from Hubzilla, Streams, or Forte, but they are all from the same family tree. They all come from Mist Park and Friendika (the MIT licensed version of Friendika before it was renamed Friendica and switched to AGPL).
There are some opportunities for collaboration, but the biggest obstacle is incompatible licenses. Hubzilla is MIT licensed and Friendica is AGPL. That means that Friendica can use code from Hubzilla, but Hubzilla can never use any code from Friendica. The exception being addons, themes, and widgets, that can be any license.
Friendica seriously needs to do something about their accessibility. I was able to edit one post directly on the site, but it was apparently a lucky click. I keep trying, but though there is an "edit" option,, when I hit it, it never sends me to an edit page. There is some kind of dialogue and I can never get into it. Even the homepage doesn't have normal links. It's some kind of menu bar, and if I go to profile, for example, it reads as a link, but I had to tab through everything else to get out of it. Why can't people just make normal links! This is why I use TweeseCake.
@Elena Brescacin @informapirata ⁂ :privacypride: Wow. That is truly sad. It's a wonderful platform, overall. I'm sure many people would be willing to help with development! Perhaps, we can start a friendica development tag.
@Elena Brescacin @informapirata ⁂ :privacypride: Perhaps, that's where we need to start. We should find the original developers. I've already started the tag to help us find developers. Such a wonderful site should be promoted and also improved if possible. I've met some amazing people after joining.
Can anyone recommend an accessible course to learn html? It must work with NVDA. I've heard of Code Camp and W3Schools, but how accessible are they and how do they differ in content and style? I like courses with a structured approach, where things are explained i.e. a deductive and not an inductive approach. I usually don't need a tutorial, but I am fine with general instructions. In this case, though, exercises would be very beneficial. I am using this prior to beginning Part 2 of the Web Developer's course at Deque. I am not a developer, but they don't have one for accessibility testers.
@NV Access Thank you. These are excellent suggestions, especially the first one, as they have courses directly related to accessibility testing, working with NVDA (which I've done for many years, anyway), etc. But for right now, I'm seeking an accessible course in html itself.
To make a very long story short, I am considering entering the field of accessibility. More specifically, website testing. For those interested, I wrote about it here. If you can offer any suggestions, recommendations, etc. either here or there, please do so. I would love to hear from you!
The long story, for those who are interested in my background in technology and how I came to this decision, can be found here. My blind peers, in particular, may enjoy this, though it may also take you on a trip down memory lane.
Note: Despite this negative post, the people at Newsmast do take accessibility seriously and have said they would fix the issues that I mentioned earlier. So please don't let this reflect on them. I only told them about these a few days ago. Today, I found the new ones. Maybe, their site is simply not working properly for anyone at the moment. I found yet more inaccessibility with newsmast. I went there using Supermium, and hit all the "button" links until I found the one that was for communities. I tried to follow one by entering my Friendica.world information, and told it to authorise the interaction, which is all normal and is how I joined the others when I found myself tagged in them. Then, I was sent to a page that asked me about my birthday, location, etc. I had never seen this when joining a Newsmast page, but I began doing it. There was an edit box for country, but regardless of what I typed, it kept telling me that I needed to select a country. But there was no combobox to do so, just an edit box for typing. I closed the window and tried to return to the commu
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Note: Despite this negative post, the people at Newsmast do take accessibility seriously and have said they would fix the issues that I mentioned earlier. So please don't let this reflect on them. I only told them about these a few days ago. Today, I found the new ones. Maybe, their site is simply not working properly for anyone at the moment. I found yet more inaccessibility with newsmast. I went there using Supermium, and hit all the "button" links until I found the one that was for communities. I tried to follow one by entering my Friendica.world information, and told it to authorise the interaction, which is all normal and is how I joined the others when I found myself tagged in them. Then, I was sent to a page that asked me about my birthday, location, etc. I had never seen this when joining a Newsmast page, but I began doing it. There was an edit box for country, but regardless of what I typed, it kept telling me that I needed to select a country. But there was no combobox to do so, just an edit box for typing. I closed the window and tried to return to the communities page, but it kept returning me to the form where I had to enter my location, even when I specifically removed that part of the url. I'm going to try it with Firefox, which is a bit more accessible with the site (it shows some links not all unlabelled buttons), but this shouldn't be happening. I also need to figure out how to delete the cookie from Supermium so that I can visit the site without the prompt.
Update. I just went there with Firefox. I was able to find and follow a community. Again, it sent me to the location page, even when I closed the initial one that opened. Now, whenever I go there, it does the same. I guess I have to use a different browser or virtual machine every time I want to join a community, or just type a large number of tags into one post, hoping that some are communities, so that they will boost my meaningless post, just so that I might be lucky enough to land on their follow page and not the location one again. Yes, that was sarcasm. In reality, I'll just go back to my other pages that list various tags and communities to join because they work. #accessibility #blind #blindness #Newsmast #firefox #NVDA #Supermium #Windows @newsmast.org @newsmast
Hi Georgiana, thanks again for your helpful feedback.
It sounds like you're trying to follow Communities using the Newsmast app which will ask for you to create an account.
As we spoke about the other day, we know there's issues here that we need to fix and hopefully will be able to soon!
If you want to follow our Community Feeds on vanilla Mastodon, you can do so by follow them directly from your current friendica[dot]world account. (1/2)
See hand-curated, topical, feeds no matter where you call home on the Fediverse. Just add to a list, exclude from your home feed, then dip in and out whenever you want.
We’re working hard to connect knowledge across the Fediverse.
@The Newsmast Foundation I was using your website, not an app. The same was true the other day. It was from the communities page. Now, whenever I try to go to the main page, I'm greeted with the form.
newsmast.org is a our web app which has a number of accessibility issues and bugs which we'll work on soon. For now, our Newsmast app has been placed to the side until we finish our Channel.org service (which we hope will bring in more funding).
To visit the Community Feeds on a plain Mastodon UI or through whichever application best suits you, you can access and follow them from this thread of posts: newsmast.social/@newsmast/1118… (1/2)
See hand-curated, topical, feeds no matter where you call home on the Fediverse. Just add to a list, exclude from your home feed, then dip in and out whenever you want.
We’re working hard to connect knowledge across the Fediverse.
A social media charity The Newsmast Foundation is an educational charity, supporting the use of social media for good. We’re at the forefront of new, open social media.
I can't believe I didn't post this earlier! Anyway, here is a Dreamwidth entry of mine containing all sorts of links related to dandyism, including an entire section on Beau Brummell. As you can tell, this is another one of my great passions.
(This is a companion piece to my dating post, but here, I am strictly seeking friends. Therefore, the beginning will look similar.) Hello. I live in New Jersey and am forty years old. Some of my interests include studying dandyism, nineteenth-century grammar, Received Pronunciation, and the Regency. I like coffees, teas, and nasal snuffs, and enjoy cooking, reading British literature, watching nature and historical documentaries, gardening, crafts, and playing cards and dice. I like Baroque through Classical and a bit of early Romantic music. I love theatre (especially Regency plays, English and Viennese operettas, and Edwardian musical comedies). I prefer antique menswear and accessories (no feminine clothing). I love wit, wordplay, and dry humour without vulgarity. I am happily childfree and am not religious. I respect those who are, as long as they don't try to convert me or base their lives around it. I also have no time for mind games, drama, or political correctness/sugar coating. I have been totally blind since I was two months old, due to Retinopathy of Prematurity.
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(This is a companion piece to my dating post, but here, I am strictly seeking friends. Therefore, the beginning will look similar.) Hello. I live in New Jersey and am forty years old. Some of my interests include studying dandyism, nineteenth-century grammar, Received Pronunciation, and the Regency. I like coffees, teas, and nasal snuffs, and enjoy cooking, reading British literature, watching nature and historical documentaries, gardening, crafts, and playing cards and dice. I like Baroque through Classical and a bit of early Romantic music. I love theatre (especially Regency plays, English and Viennese operettas, and Edwardian musical comedies). I prefer antique menswear and accessories (no feminine clothing). I love wit, wordplay, and dry humour without vulgarity. I am happily childfree and am not religious. I respect those who are, as long as they don't try to convert me or base their lives around it. I also have no time for mind games, drama, or political correctness/sugar coating. I have been totally blind since I was two months old, due to Retinopathy of Prematurity.
I am seeking friends, either online or off, though offline would be ideal, so we can meet and do things together. I don't care about your sex or sexual orientation, but I would prefer friends no younger than twenty-one. I tend to get along with those who are older than I, since we usually have more in common, but it's not a requirement. I am blind, but it's not the focal point of my life. Still, it does mean that I can't drive. I really don't have any understanding of chronic illness, anxiety, depression, loneliness, etc. so if you need someone who could help you through that on a personal level, I'm not the one you're seeking. I also have no children and tend to avoid them, though I am polite when meeting them. I love cats, so if you have any, I would love to meet them or hear about them. I also enjoy hearing about cooking or gardening adventures, antiques, etc. and I love learning about interesting lives. If we do meet, I need to get to know you a bit first.
For those who would like to know more about me, this is my journal. Anyone can read or comment, whether or not he is a member.
I wanted to add tags such as cards, classical music, fashion, gardening, Regency, theatre, etc. but I don't want to abuse them, because while I am seeking a man who likes these things, my post isn't really about them. Perhaps, a veteran Friendica or Fediverse user could instruct me in this.
Hello. I live in New Jersey and am forty-one years old. I am seeking a man over sixty who is well-dressed, well-spoken, confident, and witty. You can be either straight or bisexual. You should enjoy the finer things in life, but you need not be rich. I have no interest in bdsm, role-playing, etc. I simply adore the voices and bodies of older men. That said, I do love it soft down there and enjoy bedroom fun. I would prefer you to either live in or near New Jersey, or to be able to visit me frequently. No one-night stands, parents or men who want children, caregivers, workaholics, or recreational drug users. I am open to both fun with no strings attached, and a committed relationship, but I must get to know you first.
Some of my interests include studying dandyism, nineteenth-century grammar, Upper Received Pronunciation, British history, and the Regency. I like coffee, tea, wine, nasal snuff, cooking, hot baths, reading British literature, watching nature and historical documentaries, gardening, hot weather, and playing cards and dice. I also love cats. In classical music, I
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Hello. I live in New Jersey and am forty-one years old. I am seeking a man over sixty who is well-dressed, well-spoken, confident, and witty. You can be either straight or bisexual. You should enjoy the finer things in life, but you need not be rich. I have no interest in bdsm, role-playing, etc. I simply adore the voices and bodies of older men. That said, I do love it soft down there and enjoy bedroom fun. I would prefer you to either live in or near New Jersey, or to be able to visit me frequently. No one-night stands, parents or men who want children, caregivers, workaholics, or recreational drug users. I am open to both fun with no strings attached, and a committed relationship, but I must get to know you first.
Some of my interests include studying dandyism, nineteenth-century grammar, Upper Received Pronunciation, British history, and the Regency. I like coffee, tea, wine, nasal snuff, cooking, hot baths, reading British literature, watching nature and historical documentaries, gardening, hot weather, and playing cards and dice. I also love cats. In classical music, I enjoy Baroque through a bit of early Romantic, while in popular, I usually prefer 1950's through 1970's. I love theatre (especially English and Viennese operettas, Edwardian musical comedies), and some Regency/Georgian plays. I prefer antique menswear and accessories (no feminine clothing). It's my dream to either buy a genuine Edwardian suit or have one commissioned. I love wit, wordplay, and dry humour without vulgarity. I am happily childfree, am not religious, and speak my mind. I have been totally blind since I was two months old, due to Retinopathy of Prematurity.
I really love Tweesecake. The more I use it, the more wonderful things I learn about it. I am now able to view my Local Friendica.world timeline, Home (which is basically the people whom I follow), the Federated Timeline, my Favourites/Likes, my mentions (when people Mention me), etc. all in one place! Everything is customisable, too! I only wish they made a 32-bit version, so that I could use it on all of my machines, both physical and virtual. Still, as long as I can use it on one, it's good, since I can just use NVDA Remote to access it with another. Oh, and it doesn't try to insert nonsense when I write tags! I hate when I write in text fields and receive suggestions.
Those who love antique fashions will enjoy this. It is a compilation of links related to Regency and Edwardian mensware. If you have any to add or wish to make any suggestions, please do so.
Georgiana Brummell
in reply to Georgiana Brummell • •Georgiana Brummell
in reply to Georgiana Brummell • •Jupiter Rowland
in reply to Georgiana Brummell • • •Ironically, you've connected to me first. My channel has only got two topics. The primary topic is a certain kind of 3-D virtual worlds, the secondary topic is the Fediverse beyond Mastodon, although this may include accessibility topics. Since this is not my personal, all-round channel, I don't post about anything else.
I'm working on a series of posts that will touch male fashion. But they'll touch male fashion in the above-mentioned virtual worlds, I'll post them on a dedicated (streams) channel, and this Hubzilla channel will only forward them. Also, expect each one to have both a summary and a spoiler tag for those who are easily triggered by even the slightest eye contact.
#Long #LongPost #CWLong #CWLongPost #FediMeta #FediverseMeta #CWFediMeta #CWFediverseMeta
Georgiana Brummell likes this.
Georgiana Brummell
in reply to Jupiter Rowland • •