When it comes to accessibility, Bluesky and the ATmosphere have some work to do. I've heard more than a few complaints about the Bluesky app's challenges for people using assistive technology, for example, and there's a lot less alt-text on images here than on Mastodon.

So let's got to work on improving the situation!

As a first step, I'm working on gathering resources, tips, suggestions for improvements. Please share your thoughs on these -- or anything else related to accessibility here as a comment, on Bluesky, or in this CryptPad form.

  • What resources and tips have you found useful -- or think might be useful for others?

  • What accessibility problems have you encountered on fedi software, or fedi-related sites – bugs, missing documentation or functionality, whatever?

  • What are inspirations or best practices from other software we can learn from (yes even including software from evil corporations, because sometimes they do some aspects of accessibility quite well)

  • Any suggestions for for improving things? For example, as new people join fedi, they're coming from networks that don't value accessibility as much ... how can we help them realize that things are different here, give them the basic tools they need to avoid common mistakes, and let them know how they can help if they have the time?

This is brainstorming, so It's fine if to suggest something that's not fully fleshed out -- and when we're talking about possible improvements it's okay if you're not sure whether something is even possible!

I'll collect the responses and follow up with posts here, on the Nexus of Privacy newsletter, and on Bluesky; I'll also schedule a webinar to present the results and discuss next steps. My impression is that a lot of developers want to make progress on this issue, but aren't necessarily sure where to start; and, there are also a lot of ways people aren't developers will be able to contribute.

If you're interested in the results, or helping with the next stage of the project, please let me know!

PS: I'm asking similar questions about fediverse software. See Improving accessibility in the fediverse and the ATmosphere for more info.