this post was submitted on 30 Nov 2025
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Progressive Politics

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submitted 3 days ago by geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml to c/progressivepolitics@lemmy.world
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[–] lmmarsano@lemmynsfw.com 4 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Needs text alternative.Images of text break much that text alternatives do not. Losses due to image of text lacking alternative such as link:

  • 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 this 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
  • web connectivity
    • we have to do failure-prone bullshit to find the original source
    • we can't explore wider context of the original message
  • authenticity: we don't know the image hasn't been tampered
  • 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.

There was that whole genocidal, racial supremacist, fascism thing…