Twitter, one of the largest social media platforms in the world, is taking more and more steps to make their platform more accessible to people with disabilities. On December 14, 2019, for example, a new feature was rolled out for both the website and the mobile app that is aimed at helping people with limited eyesight.
From light blue to dark blue
From now on you can find a button under the heading vision/see that ensures that the color contrasts become clearer. When you check it, the well-known light blue twitter ribbon goes from light to dark blue. Other user interface elements are also provided with a higher contrast. You can find this setting by first clicking on more/more, and then on Settings and Privacy/Settings and Privacy. There you then see accessibility or accessibility, depending on your language choice.
Today we’re adding support for increasing the color contrast on https://t.co/CuB5qyHKwU
Find the setting under the accessibility tab pic.twitter.com/MhnpI0wZCY
— Twitter Accessibility (@TwitterA11y) December 13, 2019
Alt-Text
This is not the only accessibility function that Twitter has recently rolled out. Earlier this year, the company also added the possibility of on all platforms (iOS, Android, PC/Mac) alternative Text to add when you upload a photo. Now you still have to tick this option yourself, you can do that in the same way that we described above. From now on a prompt appears to add alternative text, as can be seen in the tweet below.
People using https://t.co/U2EN7X2uwS can now add image descriptions, also known as alternative text, when composing a Tweet. We’re excited to add this feature so images on Twitter are more accessible for everyone! Turn on image descriptions in your Twitter accessibility settings. pic.twitter.com/k3gl5mWvZY
— Twitter Accessibility (@TwitterA11y) August 11, 2018
On regular websites, the option for alternative text is almost more rule than the exception, so it’s good to see that Twitter will also take this step soon. We would rather see that the option to add alternative text would have been checked in advance. That would ensure that everyone knows the existence of the function, and ultimately result in many more pictures with alternative text on the popular platform.
Nevertheless, we watch with growing enthusiasm how the largest social media in the world are increasingly making a point to include (digitally) limited. We follow their developments closely. So keep an eye on our blog to stay up to date about the latest digitness news news!
