Custom emojis unique to each Misskey instance come with their own "name" (something like :ablobwobroll:, :erait:; not sure how these are named). On some environments, clients show those emoji "names" instead of the emojis themselves due to platform restrictions. However, these "names" are there to be typed, not to be read, so reading them can often be difficult. Screenreaders would also struggle to express these custom emojis.
For example, Milktea on Android notifies us when a note gets a reaction:
A solution I have in my mind is to provide alternative ("alt") text for each emoji and to let clients use them whey they cannot use emojis. Here's some examples:
#
emoji
emoji "name"
alt text
(i)
:desuyone:
ですよね
(ii)
:soudasouda:
そうだそうだ
(iii)
:ablobgoodnightreverse:
おやすみ / goodnight
(iv)
:sadblob:
sad...?
Alt text for (i) and (ii) will be straightforward.
As for (iii), there are many other similar emojis...
... but I think "goodnight" is easier to understand than ":ablobgoodnightreverse:" and they could all have the same alt text.
As for (iv), it is quite difficult to express this kind of strange emoji as text. I have never thought (iv) meant sad. They can be simply left as they are, without alt text.
Maybe some other communication apps (LINE?) had this kind of features. Alt text could be translated but that will be another issue.
acid-chicken
commented
1 year ago
Summary
Custom emojis unique to each Misskey instance come with their own "name" (something like
:ablobwobroll:,:erait:; not sure how these are named). On some environments, clients show those emoji "names" instead of the emojis themselves due to platform restrictions. However, these "names" are there to be typed, not to be read, so reading them can often be difficult. Screenreaders would also struggle to express these custom emojis.For example, Milktea on Android notifies us when a note gets a reaction:
where the original note is:
Possible Solution
A solution I have in my mind is to provide alternative ("alt") text for each emoji and to let clients use them whey they cannot use emojis. Here's some examples:
:desuyone::soudasouda::ablobgoodnightreverse::sadblob:... but I think "goodnight" is easier to understand than ":ablobgoodnightreverse:" and they could all have the same alt text.
Maybe some other communication apps (LINE?) had this kind of features. Alt text could be translated but that will be another issue.