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Hello! I'd like to ask how to do image descriptions for tags. I always get confused when I do them. Should I keep the #? Should I do exactly how the person wrote, like no upper case letters? What should I do about emojis and emoticons?

Image Descriptions For Tags, Including Hashtags, Lowercase Letters, Capital Letters, Emojis, and Emoticons

The hashtag is usually not needed unless it is an actual hashtag reference such as to a Twitter hashtag. If you would like, you can separate sentences with periods. If it is a list of individual words, you can write something like ‘Image Description: a series of words separated by hashtags written by user x. The words are as follows: disability, accessibility, accessible.’

When I write #disability #accessibility #accessible it is read as “hashtag disability hashtag accessibility hashtag accessible.” This means that while writing # might be okay for separate words or one sentence, writing it for a whole paragraph can make it difficult to understand. This is why my suggestion is to exclude the hashtag for tags that include sentences rather than a few individual words.

I think excluding the # helps with readability for screen-readers and for those who have other difficulties processing images. Using typical punctuation also helps with preserving tone and pacing. Perhaps using other symbols such as bullet points or commas could help to create natural pauses for screen-readers, depending on what is being conveyed. If you would like, you can include notes such as that you excluded the hashtags or replaced them with periods to increase accessibility.

Similarly, you can add notes about capitalization. Screen-readers will read ‘i love cats’ [lowercase] and ‘I LOVE CATS’ [capitalized] the same way. You can include notes about if everything was written with lowercase letters for style or in all caps for emphasis. Here is an example, perhaps someone has shared a picture of a cat with helpful image description. Someone who thought their tags were cute includes a screen-shot of the tags.

[Image Description: A screen-shot of tags in reference to the above picture of a cat. The tags say: ‘I love cats. So. MUCH. [Much is in all caps for emphasis.] End Image Description]

Emojis can be read by a screen-reader, such as voiceover, but if you want to write that there is a cupcake emoji, feel to write ‘cupcake emoji’. Screen-readers read cupcake and 🧁 the same way. For emoticons, it depends. Some emoticons can be read by a screen-reader, but more complicated ones cannot. It may be more helpful to describe the emoticon and what it is trying to convey.

Does anyone else have suggestions? How do you prefer to write image descriptions for tags? What makes them easier for you to read?

Edit: User @solarishashernoseinabook added the following:

I sometimes transcribe tags on separate lines

(usually when I’m on a computer) [in parentheses]

I start off with “tags that read as follows” beforehand

@solarishashernoseinabook explains that introducing punctuation could perhaps change the meaning, which is important. I think this is also an excellent option that maintains meaning while increasing accessibility.

Anyone else want to share how they do it?

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