YSK: How to embed images accessibly on Lemmy

Why YSK: If you want to make Lemmy a more accessible place for all, you need to know how to add labels (aka: “alt text”) to embedded images

As many of you are already aware, you can embed images in comments using the following markdown: ![](https://example.com/image.jpg).

That works, but the image will be left unlabeled which leaves screenreader users out of the conversation. This may seem like a theoretical problem, but it’s not – Lemmy already has an active blind community: rblind.com

So, here’s what you can do to add labels when embedding images:

![Earth viewed from the Moon](https://example.com/image.jpg)

That’s it! Any text within the [] becomes “alt text”, which is what screenreaders use for describing images. It’s a small thing, but it makes a world of difference.

Remember: Reddit took something from many of us here. For some, it was a mobile app. For others, it was the ability to operate their own communities. Comment with solidarity; use alt-text.

Speckle,
@Speckle@lemmy.world avatar

This is really interesting and good to know, thank you for sharing. I’m going to try and remember this for all my images going forward.

For posts that are image based does the OP need to describe them or is that covered somehow already by screen readers?

chaorace,
@chaorace@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

Excellent question. For image-based posts, there is currently no mechanism to directly embed alt-text. This is likely to change in the future, however, so subscribe to lemmy#1086 for updates.

For now, the general advice is to use the post body to describe the linked image (on Lemmy, all posts are allowed to have “self-post”-like text). This would work by linking the image directly as usual and also embedding the same image in the post text with alt-text included there.

Tinawebmom,
@Tinawebmom@lemmy.world avatar

Wait. So this is only if you post a image based comment?

ShittyKopper,

There are no descriptions for image posts. You can however make a post that is both an image and text post at the same time, and throw the description there, until a proper way to put alt text gets implemented.

70ms,

Any tips for a sighted person on what makes for a good and useful description?

ShittyKopper,

I’m sighted (or, rather, sighted enough that glasses work) as well so I’m not the best person to answer this question.

70ms,

Hopefully someone will come along and answer. Thanks. :)

Drunemeton,
@Drunemeton@lemmy.world avatar

Great advice! It’s pretty easy to just double paste the URL into both spots.

chaorace,
@chaorace@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

Indeed, but just FYI: doing this is actually even worse than leaving a completely empty alt-text!

Why? Because some browsers have experimental support for AI-generated alt-text. If an image has no alt-text, it’ll try to generate one, but only if the alt text is empty. This feature will probably become more common in the future, so please try to refrain from putting non-descriptive stuff in the alt-text area.

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