Newcomers: I’m not going to yell at you about alt text.

But I will tell you, just as a factual matter, if you don’t add alt text to your images they may get fewer faves and boosts. There are people here who rely on it to know what you’ve posted, and many more who won’t engage with media that doesn’t have alt text.

#AltText #accessibility

AltText is such a low effort habit to get into and at the same time, such a generous welcoming thing to do for another person. And why wouldn’t you want everyone to understand what you meant. I mean, you added that photo for a reason. 😜
#AltText #Kindness #Inclusion

charly :antifa:⚧️

@oxytocinated@chaos.social

I do alt text, but it's not low effort at all.
There are many people with low energy for whom writing alt text is an actually barrier for participation.
(Sometimes I also just don't post pictures, although I want to, because I don't have the energy to write alt text).

I still think alt text is important, I just want to point out that, for many, it's not low effort; and claiming it is might make those feel uncomfortable and unseen.

@maxleibman

October 7, 2025 at 4:19:11 AM
·

It is entirely acceptable for your alt text to read:
"I don't have the energy to write alt text right now".

Someone else (with more spoons than you right now) will probably suggest something, and you can edit it in later.

Edit: every time I log in to bsky, I have to remind myself that I can't edit anything there.

On my instance alt text is mandatory (which I like).
And I do have blind followers, so I do want to do alt text.

I simply wanted to point out here that a blanket statement about "low effort" isn't everyone's reality.

@Pineywoozle @maxleibman

Sometimes I don't have the energy (or time) to write a decent alt text, and in that case I usually just don't bother with an image.

Elk Logo

Elk is in Preview!

Thanks for your interest in trying out Elk, our work-in-progress Mastodon web client!

Expect some bugs and missing features here and there. we are working hard on the development and improving it over time.

Elk is Open Source. If you'd like to help with testing, giving feedback, or contributing, reach out to us on GitHub and get involved.

To boost development, you can sponsor the Team through GitHub Sponsors. We hope you enjoy Elk!

Daniel Roe三咲智子 Kevin DengPatakAnthony Fu

The Elk Team