Alt text:
Sequoia Brussels sprouts are delicious but it's pretty hard to finish one.
this post was submitted on 23 Sep 2023
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xkcd
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It's not the title, but rather a sort of "bonus joke" that pops up when you hover a cursor over the image (or long press on mobile I think). It's a staple of xkcd and other webcomics, but I'll grant that it does present some confusion for those who rely on alt text.
I for one appreciated that being in the post so I didn't need to click thru for the bonus joke as I usually would. Perhaps it's just better to call it something other than alt text.
Yes, it's a pretty obvious riff on the main joke, i.e. entertaining the idea that Brassica sequoia is a real thing, based on the fact that brussels sprouts, like cauliflower, collards, kohlrabi, cabbage and others, are all cultivars of B. oleracea.
If you didn't know that last bit, I can see getting confused about the alt-text.
@yolta@programming.dev @lugal@sopuli.xyz
The point is that it's not an alt text. Also I was quite tired when writing my first comment
Oh, I see what you mean! So strictly speaking, alt-text should be used for the intended purpose, i.e. in order to help certain users and searches, etc.
Fortunately or unfortunately, I suspect most webcomics makers, and no doubt others, are going to keep using it the way they are. I'm not sure there's a real issue in this case, but maybe in others..
From what I have seen, alt text describes the image for blind people or for the case that the image isn't loading