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#2347 BLOG UPDATES: Alternate text now available for all posts

Alt text / image descriptions are available for the images in this post.


2.2 billion people in the world have visual impairments. As part of our 2024 DEIB strategy, we are making our posts more accessible for the visually impaired. 


#2347 BLOG UPDATES: Alternate text now available for all posts 2.2 billion people in the world have visual impairments. As part of our 2024 DEIB strategy, we are making our posts more accessible for the visually impaired. Pictures of visually impaired characters from the following themes: City, Friends and Star Wars.

What is alternate text? Alternative text, or alt text for short, is text that describes an image. It enables vision impaired people, to benefit more from images (or at all, if their disability is preventing them from seeing images altogether). It also benefits people with dyslexia and other physical / cognitive conditions, where their ability to interpret and process visual input is not optimal. Why not set alt text on Instagram and call it a day? Instagram has a 100-character limit for each image. As the images in our posts feature multiple elements, such as text boxes, arrows, pictures and sometimes videos, it’s impossible to describe all of these elements in 100 characters. Two alternatives are putting the alt text in the caption of a post or in the comments. However, our alt text is too long for the caption, and can’t be posted in one comment so disrupts the comment section. We’d advise this method for our followers who post MOCs though!

So what’s the solution? We will be placing full alt text for our posts on our website. There is no character limit when setting alt text, and for our tests it seems the most effective way. Alt text will be available via our website for all future posts, and we’ll be adding it to all of our 2024 posts over the next month. Example: Tips and Bricks logo. #2336 SET REVIEW: 21348: IDEAS Dungeons and Dragons: Red Dragon's Tale. Celebrating 50 years of D&D! Image shows a tall grey tower on a dark tan hill, with a stone bridge to one side, and a medieval building in front of it. There is a large red dragon above the bridge, and various magical creatures and minifigures around. Our score: 23 out of 25 314.99 pounds, 359.99 dollars, 359.99 euros, for 3745 parts. How does this set compare to the original fan design? SPOILER WARNING! This set is also a D&D adventure! To break it down for review, this post features spoilers!

Another example: Part selection of the new set 21348: IDEAS Dungeons and Dragons: Red Dragon's Tale. NEW PARTS: 2 large reddish orange cloth dragon wings NEW RECOLOURS: Minifigure, wing, bat, red, x2. Bracket 5 x 2 x 2 1/3 with 2 Holes and Bottom Stud Holder, red, x2. Pneumatic T bar, reddish orange, x19. Technic Rotation Joint Disk with Large Pin Hole and 2 Pins, dark red, x2. Cone, 1 x 1, medium lavender, x4. Technic macaroni piece, medium lavender, x10. NEW PRINTS: 1 x 1 tile, tan, with owl eye print, x2. 1 x 1 tile, round, nougat, with round eye print, x10. 1 x 1 tile, round, black, with cat eye print, x2. Wedge plate 2 x 2, red, with dragon eye print, left and right, 1 of each. 1 x 2 tiles, tan, with 4 different magic spell designs on them, 2 of each. 1 x 1 plate, reddish brown, with 2 yellow eyes printed on the side, x4. 1 x 1 sphere, lime, with green dragon design printed, x1. 2 x 2 tile, round, orange, with large eye print, x1. 2 x 2 curved slope, black, with leafy bearded face print, x1. RARE PARTS: (Appearing in 1 other set) Door 1 x 4 x 6 with Window and Stud Handle, reddish brown, x7. 2 x 3 brick, olive green, x2. 2 x 2 corner plate, olive green, x1. 1 x 1 brick with stud on side, olive green, x1. Spiral staircase step segment, light bluish grey, x8. 2 x 2 round tile, sand green, x5. Slope, double, inverted, 2 x 2. dark purple, x3. Plate, rounded, 3 x 3, orange, x4. INTERESTING PARTS: 1 x 2 plate, reddish orange, x31. Trans-clear cup with handle with trans-orange drink inside, x2. 1 x 1 round tile, pearl gold, with crown coin print, x8. Minifigure accessory, The One Ring, x1. Bar 1L with 45 angled stud, medium nougat, x11. Weapon, hilt, dragon, pearl gold, x6. Flame, plume, trans-bright green, x8. Mop head, tan, x2. Plant, fern leaf, satin dark pink, x3. STICKERS: A relatively small sticker sheet with some detail. SCORE: 5 out of 5 part selection. With a brilliant selection of new prints and desirable parts. this set is a MOC maker's dream, particularly for those who like to make animals and medieval-themed builds.

Improving accessibility in the community If you post to Instagram, you can help improve accessibility by adding alt text to the images in your post. We recommend the following methods: Add alt text to your post’s description. Add alt text as a comment and make it the pinned comment. Another example, this time a bit shorter: #2341 MOC OF THE WEEK: Gnome hut by @mrmaxxwell Pictured is a quaint gnome hut. It features circular white walls with medium nougat detailing, dark blue roofing and a spire, gold detailing atop the spire, and a blue chimney. Brick built gnomes and two pink flowers surround the base. This build for Iron Forge makes use of LEGO cup pieces 20 times! Can you find them all? Answers on the next slides!

What’s next? We want to collect feedback on our approach towards accessible posts for the visually impaired. Are you visually impaired, or do you know someone know is? We would love the help of people who can test out the alt text and provide any feedback. Please get in touch if you can help!


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