this post was submitted on 22 May 2024
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Firefox

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Here’s what we’re working on in Firefox (connect.mozilla.org)
submitted 6 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 14 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

Four panel image sourced from the intro to the Powerpuff Girls cartoon. In Panel 1, which is mainly colored blue, the silhouette of a man pours sugar into a bowl. In Panel 2, colored green, the silhouette is adding what can be assumed to be salt. In Panel 3, colored pink, he is pouring flowers, hearts and sparkles into the bowl. He has a happy smile. Finally, in Panel 4, colored bright red, black goo from a broken jar is flowing into the bowl, as if an accident happened that broke the jar. For the first time, we can see the face of the man. He looks clearly distressed, and is backing down from the scene.

to be faiiiiiiiir, the way they’re going about it is very reasonable. i’d rather have no AI but, if i had to have it, i’d rather have that than anything else.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

The use case they mention (generating alt text for images in PDFs) is something that couldn't work otherwise and, even if it isn't perfect, can be a big help to people with visual impairments, while at the same time doesn't get in the way of the users that don't need it.

If they keep focusing on these kinds of features instead of going fully Clippy like Google and Microsoft are doing, I think it's fine.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

honestly, you’re right. I still worry that it could encourage an attitude of abled people not caring about alt text, because "oh well AI’s gonna do it anyway, who cares!", but, really, abled people already don’t care about alt text, so…

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

In the specific case of PDF most users wouldn't even know where to add an alt text. Depending on how you generate the PDF it might even be impossible. So I think Mozilla has the same concern as you, and that's why they aren't adding this to images in HTML (yet).