Category: “fixing alt”

This is the next blog in a series titled “Fixing Alt” where I supply alternative text to graphics on the web that badly need it.

This time it’s How one decides to build a web browser, an hilarious comic which makes fun of Google and takes a (deserved?) low blow at Internet Explorer 6. So here is the text version (a definition list seemed to work semantically):

How one decides to build a web browser

Simple illustration with three panels, one for each browser.

Mozilla Firefox

Two people at a computer. One with a pensive look on his face, and the other says “Let’s create a better Internet experience that everyone can use.”

Google Chrome

Three people at a computer. One says “How else can Google control the Internet?” Another says “Let’s make a web browser!”

Microsoft IE6

A man squatting over a laptop computer with his pants half down and saying “I’m ganna shit on the keyboard and see what happens.”

This is the next blog in a series titled “Fixing Alt” where I supply alternative text to graphics on the web that badly need it (cartoons and infographics).

The Oatmeal has great comics, but badly needs alt text. One of their most successful comics is 6 Reasons Bacon Is Better Than True Love (you can even order a poster) and deserves to be enjoyed by everyone! So here is the text version:

6 Reasons Bacon Is Better Than True Love

Illustration: 3 strips of bacon, greater-than symbol, heart.

1. True love happens once in a lifetime. Bacon can happen seven times a day, if you want it to. Illustration: Man, drooling, with bacon in hand says “You are my everything”.
2. Bacon you can keep in the fridge. True love you cannot. Illustration: Woman trying to get out of fridge says “Oh God oh God, let me out of here! Man holds door back with heart in a thought cloud.
3. Love is fleeting, but bacon stays in your arteries for all eternity. Illustration: Man laying down with bacon strips falling in his open mouth.
4. It will always be there for you. Illustration: Man with tears in eyes says “nobody loves me except my bacon”.
5. Bacon won’t divorce you over a little misunderstanding. Illustration: Wife gasping; man in skimpy underwear with goat on leash and 2 nearly naked women says “This isn’t what it looks like. These aren’t hookers, they are my ‘consultants'”.
6. Bacon does not nag or complain. Illustration: Woman says “You’ve been sitting in that goddamn chair for 8 weeks, go mow the lawn! Soiled man in lounge chair says “Shut up, more bacon please”.

A humorous infographic was recently published and twittered about, If Web Browsers Were Celebrities (full image). I’ve noticed more than several of these in the last few months, and one big issue about them continues to nag me: there’s no sufficient alternative text! (Also a good case for the longdesc attribute!)

So I decided to to my typing skills to work and provide the alternative text. Hopefully there will be more of these to come on this blog. So here it is, the alt text from the If Web Browsers Were Celebrities infographic:

Browser Compatibility; If Web Browsers Were Celebrities

[Each item includes a nice, large browser icon and a cartoon-style avatar of the celebrity’s face.]

Firefox – Can do no wrong, though not as spry as it once seemed. Would be: Morgan Freeman.

Chrome – The new hotness. People love it so much they’re nervous it will go wrong and embarrass them later. Would be: Christopher Nolan.

IE6 – Everyone thought it died a long time ago, but still seems to crop up all over the place. Would be: Betty White. [LOL!]

IE7 – After years of giving it chance after chance, performance never gets better. Would be: Matthew McConaughey.

IE8 – Trying desperately to stay relevant, even though it’s still the same thing. Would be: The Shatner. [William Shatner]

Safari – Reliable performance, seems to be everywhere. Would be: Samuel Jackson. (Just wait til he collaborates with “Chrome”)

Flock – Hip, but people don’t take it seriously anymore. Would be: Michael Cera.

Netscape – When it died, everyone said “Oh yea, that one!” and then forgot all about it. Would be: Walter Matthau.

Opera – Only ever used if you already have 100 tabs open in IE, Firefox isn’t available, and you have no toher choice. Everyone agrees it looks nice, though. Would be: J-Lo. [Jennifer Lopez]

IceWeasel – Who? You mean that weird one? Would be Kristen Schaal (AKA Mel on Flight of the Conchords)

Requires No Browser – Is unquestionably Keanu Reeves. [Avatar of Keanu says “Wo”]