Accessibility - Wardrobe Zoom?
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I am just about frustrated to tears trying to make a new outfit for my HA today. I can barely see the details in most wearables, especially some CWs that are especially elaborate. I am not supposed to be visually impaired according to optometrists I have seen, so there may be accessibility options that I am not aware of, but I have to imagine people with visual impairment must be frustrated too. Everything on Subeta is so, so tiny. I spend a lot of time squinting and giving myself headaches on Subeta as well as on other sites. The wardrobe is definitely the worst offender though. The sheer number of wearable items on Subeta means looking at pages upon pages of tiny hard-to-see previews, whereas in most other areas of the site it doesn't terribly matter if I can't see what the item looks like.
For what it's worth, you might be able to zoom in using your browser. I'm using Windows and Firefox, and if I press CTRL and + it zooms into my HA. It might be a little fiddly to look at individual items, but that might help you a little bit.
I am so sorry that you're having this happen to you :( For the record, I believe your browser zoom (CTRL and +) should be able to help you a little bit here, but I'm actually chatting with a friend from Stark in a few days about low hanging fruit that we have to make the site (especially the wardrobe) more accessible.
Unfortunately, it sounds like the primary point of frustration for you is how small the images are, and I truly, truly wish that I could do something about that. This is the thing that and I spend the most time complaining about in our 1:1s, because it's something we just... can't really do anything about. When we started Subeta, resolutions and displays were MUCH larger. I've actually put Subeta back to it's "native" resolution of 800x600 and everything is HUGE. That's how we used to see the internet!! But now it's all retina displays, which massively increase the number of pixels that can be displayed on the screen at once, so an item that was 64x64 on an old resolution took up roughly 10% of the page.
Now my resolution is 1512x982 on a new laptop, and so the items appear much, much smaller. I've done some research on using AI to magically upscale all of the items to twice their size (they'd still appear the same on the site) but it doesn't feel good, especially across the older items on the site.
Every year or so I see how far the technology has come, and it's getting almost close enough for us to automatically upscale all of the old items, but we're just not quite close enough yet. And, obviously, we don't have the manpower to redo all the billions of items on the site :(
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- We (the userbase) may not be able to help on the backend with updating item resolutions and whatnot, but I and I’m sure many others would love to help with making image descriptions (for use by screenreaders) if that’s something you end up going for. And I certainly know if you open up a general Accessibility Feedback thread, people will be quick to give input!
That is absolutely on my list 🎉 Getting more and more alt-text and aria related tags on the new site is at the top of my front-end list, as well as making sure that things are flagged as being just for presentation where appropriate.
Thanks for flagging that thread :D
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I would absolutely be down for helping with adding descriptions for screenreaders! Even as visually impaired as I am myself.
Thank you very much for the responses. Getting a reply from Keith himself was a nice surprise! I have always liked Subeta for how much it cares about its userbase, and Keith's reply was a textbook example as I really felt listened to.
Using the browser zoom does help a bit. Unfortunately, the more you zoom, the more it rearranges the page layout. At 170% zoom, the preview HA is dangling off the bottom of the screen (here is a screenshot, scrolled down to the bottom of the wardrobe page: https://imgur.com/a/zpj1Sk2). At 200% zoom, previewing what the item looks like when worn is impossible, as the current HA and preview HA are side-by-side at the top of the page while the items are below it, meaning if you are mousing over an item, the preview HA is not on the screen. After experimenting a little, the most I can comfortably zoom the wardrobe is 133%, as anything higher screws up the layout too much.
I suspect the solution, for me personally at least, may be to purchase a smaller monitor. My current monitor's native resolution is 1920x1080, even bigger than the one Keith said he was using. Using a smaller monitor seems very counterintuitive when my problem is how small things are, but based on Keith's explanation, things should actually be bigger on a smaller monitor... I think?
Anyway, I do not use a screen reader (I am terribly noise-sensitive and most of the time cannot tolerate anything but total silence) but that sounds like it would be helpful for other users, so I would happily support Subeta in endeavoring to make that a reality!
Also, I just wanted to say that your HA made me smile. I'm a cisgender woman who was bullied in school for having facial hair (which I couldn't be bothered to shave because I was going through a lot at the time), and I've always been quite sensitive about it. It's a little rare to see a gender presentation like your HA's where there is both facial hair and cuteness/not-entirely-masculine presentation. It's silly, but it just brightened my day a little so I wanted you to know.
Aww, that has to be the best ping I've ever gotten on here. I'm glad my HA made your day a little better. c: I hope things settled out some for you over the years and I'm sorry you were bullied for something you couldn't easily change.
Aww, that has to be the best ping I&;ve ever gotten on here. I&;m glad my HA made your day a little better. c: I hope things settled out some for you over the years and I&;m sorry you were bullied for something you couldn&;t easily change.