A lot of you have noticed that we have started adding image descriptions on our social media posts. We have had quite a few questions about it so wanted to give you a little more info about what they are and why we’ve decided to use them.
So much of what we do here at Molke is focused on inclusivity. We believe that everyone deserves to feel comfortable and supported, not to mention colourful and fabulous! Our content is very visual and we realised that this was leaving out some of our customers.
Across the internet, image descriptions and alternative text are there for visually impaired people using screen readers or those who may prefer text over visuals. The majority of images on the web, including social media, have automatically generated alt text based on what a computer thinks makes up the image. A lot of the time this is incredibly vague or even completely incorrect, leaving users confused and excluded. By writing our own image descriptions and alt text, we can be sure that our customers are getting the full picture. It is also worth noting that while alt text on social media posts is hidden and possible, it does leave out those who may have trouble processing images but don't use a screen reader.
Other ways you can make your social media more inclusive is by using something called CamelCase in your hashtags. This just means that when using a hashtag with multiple words strung together you capitalise the first letter of each word - #MolkeFlash instead of #molkeflash, for example. This allows a screen reader to decipher what the words are and read it out correctly. It’s a simple thing that makes the internet more inclusive not to mention it will help to avoid any embarrassing unintentional rude hashtags… Let's just say #SusanAlbumParty looks much better than the alternative with no capitalisation!
We will always have work to do to make our content more accessible. We are currently working on some simple changes to the website to increase its accessibility and we will make sure all of our video content has clear subtitles. We are always happy to take your suggestions on board for anything you think we can be doing better, so please feel free to drop us an email to pixie@molke.co.uk if you ever have any suggestions.
For more info making your social media more accessible the RNIB has a handy guide: www.rnib.org.uk/rnibconnect/technology/making-your-social-media-accessible
