The feature is likely to roll out to all users this spring
Google’s been getting plenty of well-deserved attention lately for the efforts it’s taken to prioritize accessibility for its apps and services. Of course, it’s far from alone in having this interest, and today we’re checking out the efforts Twitter has been making to ensure that everyone who wants to can join in on the doomscrolling.
The social media giant is currently tinkering with the way alt text is displayed. If early tests with a few users work out, this reconfigured metadata will soon become permanent.
Alt text is an image description that gets tucked into a site’s HTML, and it pops up when viewed on computers (for example) if you move your cursor over the image. It’s a way of making media more accessible to those who might need the help — the visually disabled or anyone who needs a tech aid to read web pages aloud for them. On Twitter in particular, alt text can provide a way to bypass the site’s 280-character limit and bury longer text in the image description.
Unless you know a little about web design or need the service, however, it’s the kind of thing that easily could go unnoticed. With this change, image that contain alt text will feature a prominent “ALT” badge that anyone can click for the full description as a pop-out. Then, if needed, users can simply click “dismiss” to get rid of it. Twitter says in its thread about the new alt badge that pending feedback from a small number of early users, the company plans to roll it out site-wide in April.
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