you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 5 points 10 months ago (1 child)

meme: y'all got any more of them pixels?

Post needs text alternative.Images of text break much that text alternatives do not. Losses due to image of text lacking alternative:

  • usability
    • we can't quote the text without pointless bullshit like retyping it or OCR
    • text search is unavailable
    • the system can't
      • reflow text to varied screen sizes
      • vary presentation (size, contrast)
      • vary modality (audio, braille)
  • accessibility
    • lacks semantic structure (tags for titles, heading levels, sections, paragraphs, lists, emphasis, code, links, accessibility features, etc)
    • some users can't read the image due to lack of alt text
    • users can't adapt the text for dyslexia or vision impairments
    • systems can't read the text to them or send it to braille devices
  • searchability: the "text" isn't indexable by search engine in a meaningful way
  • fault tolerance: no text fallback if
    • image breaks
    • image host is geoblocked due to insane regulations.

Contrary to age & humble appearance, text is an advanced technology that provides all these capabilities absent from images.

  • source
  • hideshow 1 child comment