Tech Tok: Visually challenged can now ‘read’ images

It’s important to keep the text focused; capture what’s important, be succinct and be objective, Twitter said.

Hyderabad: Social media is used by billions of people worldwide. And that includes visually challenged people too. As Twitter on Tuesday announced features to help visually-challenged users read images embedded with tweets via a new image description reminder, the question arises on how friendly and accessible your posts, on other social media platforms, are to those for whom sight is a challenge.

Twitter’s new image description reminder will encourage Twitterati to add helpful descriptions to images they tweet. This is by way of alternative text, or alt text, a written description of what is in an image that can be picked up by screen reader software used by the visually challenged. Once enabled, the feature sends a prompt to add alt text when one is about to tweet an image.

---

“Image descriptions help describe the image to people who aren’t able to view it, so it’s important to keep the text focused: capture what’s important, be succinct, and be objective,” Twitter said.
Now, what about the rest? Most social media platforms are screen reader compatible and have AI-powered automatic alt text, right from Facebook to Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, though some like Snapchat are still way behind in the accessibility game.

Even then, all these facilities depend on users, who have to do their part to make their social media posts more accessible to the visually challenged. Limiting emojis, adding carefully and clearly worded captions, and using the hashtag #caption are some ways. Adding hashtags and mentions at the end of a post makes the content clear for screen reader software. For videos, avoiding shaky camera work and lots of effects would be a nice idea, and also remember that the hearing-impaired might rely on lip-reading, so keep it simple.

NEW FEATURES/LAUNCHES

New YouTube video page on mobile, web

YouTube is rolling out a new video page that tweaks several elements and most notably, unifies the design across Android, iOS and the web.
According to 9To5Google, the highlight of this redesign is the use of pill-shaped buttons for key elements. For example, instead of being two distinct buttons, the thumbs up/down and the like count are housed in one container.

Share, create (Shorts), download and other things users frequently interact with get the same treatment, the report said.
Another key change with this revamps places the top comment in a more prominent container that stands out on the screen. Things are slightly different on the desktop. This revamp will be rolled out to all users slowly.

iPhone 15 Ultra likely next year

Apple may rename the ‘Pro Max’ lineup with ‘Ultra’ that will arrive with 8K video and better battery life in 2023.

According to GSMArena, the iPhone 15 Ultra will have some exclusive hardware. 8K video recording is one possibility, though it is also possible that the iPhone 15 Pro will support it as well.

Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo also suggests that the Ultra will exclusively have a periscope lens (6x or 5x). Also, the Ultra will have improved battery life and last 3-4 hours longer. With all these exclusive upgrades, the iPhone 15 Ultra is expected to go up in price compared to the 14 Pro Max, possibly starting at $1,200 (up from $1,100). Meanwhile, all iPhone 15 models are expected to drop Lightning in favour of USB-C, the report said.

– Dennis Marcus Mathew with agency inputs