The Reading Room

Catija

2:09 AM

@Mithical It was a worthy one to pull. THe edits were beneficial.

Sciborg

Screen reader users and visually impaired folks everywhere thank you.

bobble

<3

Catija

:D I did write a guide on good image descriptions - but I'm still kinda a novice so if anyone has any improvements, happy to have them. :)

13

A: How can I write good alt text?

For me, adding alt text is really important. Historically I didn't understand why it was important but I've since learned better - people accessing the site using screen readers or otherwise text-only should have the best experience that we can offer them, so if you're editing someone's work that...

bobble

I'm always surprised at images with empty descriptions. You took the time to deal with this easy accessibility feature... just to remove it. Better to leave the default "enter image description here", at least that gives users a notice there was indeed an image

Catija

Yeah. That seems like an odd behavior - But in general, I tend to think back to the me from 5 years ago who didn't realize why it was important (which I mentioned in my post, too).

bobble

2:17 AM

Image descriptions became more important to me once I went back into school - imgur is completely blocked as "porn", so all I see are descriptions (or nothing, if it was removed)

Catija

Ah, interesting. That's somewhat disappointing. (that the school blocks imgur)

Sciborg

bobble has been doing a lot of work converting MathJax tables into screen reader-accessible Markdown tables on Puzzling SE and other sites, which is extremely helpful. I thankfully don't have to use a reader much anymore after getting better glasses, but for a few months when my vision went downhill and I used one as an internet reading aid, it was super helpful.

bobble

That's been slacking off recently since I got blowback from multiple sources against multiple moderation actions at once, and schoolwork piled up, so it is on pause for mental health reasons

Sciborg

Still a very nice thing that you did, though :)

It's a tricky business because large edits like table conversions and adding image descriptions tend to trip SE's auto-filters if you're not a repped user of that site, it appears to the filter like a large chunk of text removal and a large text addition at once so I'm guessing it automatically flags it as potential spam from an unknown user. So you kind of have to join the site to make accessibility edits there in any significant way.

bobble

That accounts for... every single one of my 8+ auto-bans, yep

Sciborg

2:28 AM

I understand why that's necessary, obviously - just a bit of a bummer if you mean well :p

Those darn robots

bobble

@Catija, can you whitelist my IP? :p

Sciborg

hehe

Catija

I think we only block IPs... I'm not sure we have a way to put people on explicit allow lists.

bobble

darn it

Sciborg

bobble is still an excellent editor crown

bobble

2:32 AM

do I get a crown

to make me a crowned crown

crown with a crown

Sciborg

hmm, one second

crown-ception

:D

uh-oh

:DDD

they're multiplying

they're spreading

bobble

2:36 AM

they're so cute

Sciborg

AHHHHHH

bobble

come to me, darlings

we'll ~~take over~~ hug the world together!

Sciborg

AHHHHHHH

bobble

I can die happy now

Catija

2:57 AM

Woah.... that's a lot of crowns.

bobble

4:28 AM

(by the way, folks, my homework has reached a level where I can no longer devote time to any answers or questions for here. should let up when school ends next Friday)

I am working on my projects before school, during class (even when I technically shouldn't be), after school, and during my normal relax-time

Rand al'Thor

7:05 AM

@bobble Good luck!

Also, I just awarded the bounty on your Watership Down answer, so you've scooted ahead of Cheese and fi12 to join the top 21.

Now with more than double the rep of @PrinceNorthLæraðr. North, you regretting inviting bobble here? :-P

A. B.

9:04 AM

@verbose Thanks.
Now, *here*'s an "English isn't my first language, what does this phrase mean" question that I'll agree definitely requires knowledge of the book as well as language skills to answer properly! https://literature.stackexchange.com/questions/11771/meaning-translation-of-title-the-light-fantastic-by-terry-pratchett

verbose

9:26 AM

@bobble we’ll miss you. Good luck with projects and finals! Ooh just think, you’ll be all done with school soon! 🥲 Little Bobble ... all grown up (sniff)

Eng Lit Learner

0

Q: How different are "the tracks" from "the steps" that one leaves in the snow?

Reading a story by A. Blackwood, I am not sure what to make of the following phrase: The night was still as ice, bitterly cold. Breathlessly they ran, following the tracks. Halfway his steps diverged, and were plainly visible in the virgin snow by themselves. I thought that the tracks in the sn...

bobble

1:41 PM

@verbose there's still university after this!

Tsundoku

2:55 PM

@Sciborg It's crowns all the way up. And all the way down.

Bookworm

4:00 PM

0

Q: meaning of "they blurred into one another and were gone"

This passage is from The Children's Bach by Helen Garner How fresh and pretty he looked, sitting at her piano in his clean white shirt with the sleeves rolled up and the top button fastened! She said, ‘You look gorgeous!’ He laughed and looked down. ‘What was that you were listening to?’ ‘Haydn....

meaning the-childrens-bach helen-garner

Bookworm

6:58 PM

0

Q: how can i find a pdf book of We Only Saw Happiness by Gregoire Delacourt?

I want to read this book but i cant find it anywhere. in sites like this you can register and get the download link but I dont have credit card so I cant register. if somebody can get it and email it for me I would be so thankful. https://op.uiergjds.ru/?_token=uuid_1b1panv4g2ki6ka84mn_1b1panv4g2...

french-literature book-collecting

verbose

8:05 PM

@bobble yes, but nobody has to go to university. Now that you’re (almost) done with high school, you’re not obligated to learn another thing ever again!

And just like that, ELU becomes the third site on which I have ever rep capped

Rand al'Thor

8:27 PM

@verbose Nobody has to go to school either, at least in countries (which include the US) where home education is legal.

Congrats on the repcap! If that's from a question rather than an answer, you're a brave soul :-)

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