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Option to use audio files for image alt text #21902

Open OrElDuderino opened 1 year ago

OrElDuderino commented 1 year ago

Pitch

When adding alt text, it would be nice to have the option to add (or ideally record) an audio file as the description.

Motivation

I think it would make ALT text easier to use, both for the speaker and for the listener who gets to hear a human voice instead of their screen reader.

rbairwell commented 1 year ago

For the post author, that'll be even more effort than writing (not only finding time to speak, but also finding somewhere to record)

For the end user, they now have to deal with different accents, unfamiliar voices and have no fallback option to their screenreader if the audio quality is poor. Screenreader voices can be pretty good these days.

For server admins, this means additional media storage, additional data transfer/interchange between servers and moderation issues (it's tricker to translate audio in another language than text).

For developers: How is the maxiumum length (in time and filesize) that should be allowed for the audio snippet? What is the best multiplatform format to use? What quality does it need to be in? How do we deal with (possiby copyrighted) background noise? How do we filter out potential abuse (someone talking quietly and then screaming?)

For braille display users (ie reduced vision and hearing): What are they meant to do as this actually reduces accessibility for them.

jotaemei commented 1 year ago

it's tricker to translate audio in another language than text

Is translation provided for image captions?

rbairwell commented 1 year ago

it's tricker to translate audio in another language than text

Is translation provided for image captions?

To be honest, I have no idea: I'm not on an instance which has translation enabled (and I don't have the right level of access to my current test instance to enable it there).

ThisIsMissEm commented 1 month ago

@stefanbohacek would this actually be a good idea? My gut feeling is that it wouldn't improve accessibility.

stefanbohacek commented 1 month ago

@ThisIsMissEm I'm not really an expert here, it's definitely an interesting thought! My one concern would be, as @rbairwell pointed out, that writing the alt text makes it possible to translate it if the translation is enabled on the server.

@jotaemei See here: https://stefanbohacek.online/@stefan/112032360645638338

ThisIsMissEm commented 1 month ago

@stefanbohacek heh, I tagged you in because you know waaaay more about alt text and accessibility than I do. Hope you don't mind.

stefanbohacek commented 1 month ago

@ThisIsMissEm Not at all, I appreciate it!