#also i have no idea if the way i'm doing alt text on the graphs is useful

[roomwithanopenfire]

Stats Sunday

Happy March!! Thanks for the tag @nausikaaa! Unfortunately, my goal is to make this banner worse every month, so be prepared—we've only just begun.

Early post for me. I should be sleeping but I started making my graphs and then... well, here we are.

Here's my February Recap loll. Stats and graphs and musings incoming. (this post is so long but i promise there's a snippet in here)

Rest of post is under the cut. It is long. You've been warned.

I've posted two things last month! A valentine's day fic for Ebb/Fiona and Chapter 3 of the Way We Are. (Technically i posted 3 but this stranger things oneshot was posted on the 1st and written in January so it feels like January's accomplishment)

Total words written for February: 14405 (this beats Jan by 460 words!)

Days I met my writing goal (200 words): 20

Days I didn't write or edit anything: 4

Day I wrote the most: Feb 11th with 2249 (this beats last month's high score of 1717!)

Number of Fics worked on: 10 technically, but i have not been consistent with most of them. mainly worked on 3.

Daily Average: 514 words (but like last month i am highly inconsistent and my WC varies wildy depending on the day)

(I really like the little curve in the middle. also two the days that look like zero are actually 1 words, which is my placeholder if i spend all day editing)

And here's a pie chart to show my WC distribution across projects. Tbh a lot of these were fics that i've had in my fic ideas doc and all i did was make a google doc for them and word barf onto it my ideas, that's why there's so many small slices.

some slices are so small you don't even get to know my placeholder names. also i hope the title THTHIPWGI intrigues you, i'm always excited when i can title a fic right away and refer to it by a fun accyromn on my spreadsheet.

Other notable things from February:

I finished writing all of The Way We Are!! (kind of. i have one more scene to write. Monica's fault.)

I took over the @carry-on-sapphic-week event!! Check out the prompts if you haven't yet <3

I've received So Many beautiful valentines from the CO discord servers exchange. my mailbox and my heart has been full

The CO fandom was able to raise $500 for Fandom Trumps Hate!! (and I got to make a spreadsheet bc of this!!!) (also i won two auctions from this, one for each fandom i'm in)

My car battery died and I had to get a new one :/

I started a new journal!

I finally figured out how to spell February

my savage worlds campaign finally got our ship back and made it off this stupid planet that we've been on forever.

i've started watching Yellowjackets and I'm really enjoying it

I read so many CO AU fest fics and each one of them was so good. I think i've read all except one so far, and honestly this fest has been so fun i'm obsessed with you guys, you're are so talented.

SPEAKING of CO AU fest fics, @fiend-for-culture's fic, Everything In Between, is SO good, i've been thinking about it all week. you should read it (and leave a comment so i can read it bc i'm stalking the comments on this fic and there's not enough to sate me)

i have spring break in just one week!!

Okay, i promised you words, so here's a snip from my COBB.

“And I’m sorry,” Simon says. “For what?” “Driving you off yesterday.” “That wasn’t your fault. I was being terrible.” “Yeah,” Simon agrees. “But I shouldn’t have dismissed you like that.” I make a face. “I’m not having a heart-to-heart with you, Snow.” Simon groans. “Why do you have to do that?" "What" "Everytime I think we're making progress you say something nasty like that."

sorry this post is so long, thank you for reading if you made it this far

tags, hellos, and apologies:

@alexalexinii @aristocratic-otter @argumentativeantitheticalg @artsyunderstudy @arthurkko

@beastmonstertitan @blackberrysummerblog @best--dress @bookishbroadwayandblind @bookish-bogwitch

@the-beard-of-edward-teach @brilla-brilla-estrellita @cccloudsss @ciescen @confused-bi-queer

@cutestkilla @drowninginships @facewithoutheart @emeryhall @fiend-for-culture

@hushed-chorus @iamamythologicalcreature @ileadacharmedlife @theimpossibledemon @jyae23

@larkral @lovelettersto-mars @meanjeansjeans @m1ndwinder @monbons

@noblecorgi @orange-peony @prettygoododds @raenestee @rimeswithpurple

@run-for-chamo-miles @rbkzz @shrekgogurt @simonscones @skee3000

@supercutedinosaurs @sweetronancer @talentpiper11 @toc-the-scrambled @thewholelemon

@valeffelees @youarenevertooold @you-remind-me-of-the-babe

added some new ppl to this tag list, feel free to share a wip you're working on—art, fic, etc. it does not have to stats like mine is loll. i use wipsdays as my soapbox.

[a-captions-blog]

sending this in response to the ask about shorter descriptions—take this with a grain of salt as i am sighted, this is just what i've picked up from spending some time writing descriptions myself following guidelines from other web accessibility sources outside tumblr.

while i can't find any sources on "industry standard" descriptions being ten words or fewer specifically (i did see fifteen from one source, though,) i do see that alt text should generally be around 200 characters at the most, as alt text should be concise and give just enough detail to understand the image clearly while not including anything that isn't vital to that understanding. some screenreaders aren't compatible with alt text that goes over that limit.

however, a lot of what you do on this blog is outright transcriptions, which isn't quite the same. aside from that, what most people (including you) who write descriptions on here are writing are long descriptions, which are intended for describing images in more depth than alt text and aren't meant to be concise in the same way. i think part of the problem is that people on this website tend to use "image description" synonymously with "alt text," implying that alt text and long descriptions should work the same way and aren't made with distinct (though related) goals in mind.

on websites outside of tumblr, long descriptions are usually used for images containing lots of vital information like charts and graphs, in conjunction with a short description in alt text—the alt says something like "a chart showing (general data)," and the long description provides the specific information, sometimes linked on another page or put in a collapsible menu so that the user can choose to access it. on tumblr however, especially when you're not the original poster of something, i don't know what a good equivalent to this practice would be. you could always warn at the beginning of a description that it is meant to be a detailed/long description or a transcription of lots of text.

image description guidelines are also not the same as guidelines for describing audio or video. this isn't something i do as much as image description, so i don't have any specific knowledge about it, but i'd keep that in mind too.

i don't mean to come off as contrarian to that anon (because i think their criticism is justified and i'm open to correction if there's something about their perspective i'm missing,) or condescending towards you (as i'm sure you probably know some of this already, being a caption blog,) i just thought i'd provide some context i don't see often that might help you figure out what you want to do with your captions ^_^b (happy thumbs-up emoticon).

[Previous ask for context.] Hello! Thank you for your input. The difference in purpose between alt text and long descriptions makes sense to me, and I have some non-Tumblr experience with video transcriptions that I try to apply here as well. I do agree with the previous anon that my descriptions for art and such tend to be a bit verbose, so I can definitely work on trying to capture the general essence of the piece rather than every minute detail. I think I will go with the idea of putting a pre-description for longer captions that are as concise as possible and mention that the following description is lengthy. I will also add the ‘long description’ tag moving forward in case people want to block that pre-emptively. I am also open to further discussion on this if anyone (especially screen reader users) wants to comment :] (rectangular smiley)

[charity-angel]

Full disclosure: this is part of a promotion to hopefully win a lifetime subscription for a service I really need but can't afford.

The service is the app Bearable, which is awesome for anyone with a long-term condition that affects your life. It's an easy way of collecting empirical data about your day-to-day experiences.

Twice a day, the app reminds you to check in, and score your day so far on a sliding scale. You can pick and choose from about 75 built-in health factors, including neurodivergent behaviours like stimming and restlessness, AND you can add in your own bespoke symptoms if they affect your life.

(you can check in more often if you want - more data gives a more accurate overview of your health, especially if you fluctuate throughout the day. Or you can check in less often. It's fully customisable.)

It's so user-friendly that it's obviously been built by someone with a chronic condition (and it has - their website says so). So many other similar things I've tried are clunky and frustrating - this isn't.

Lots more, including pics, under the cut.

(alt text is variable in presence/quality because spoons. I'll update whenever I can but I'm up against a deadline)

This was (part of) yesterday. The sliding scale gives a chance to grade your symptoms, and because it's done at the time, it's not something you have to try and remember at appointments.

While this shows my "worst" throughout the day, you can see there's a toggle switch that I could use to dig down further and score my symptoms at different times of day. I haven't tried this yet but maybe I should.

The free version of the app allows you to view the last 30 days of data, which can help show overall trends, and see if certain activities make things better or worse. You also have actual data to show doctors. How often does it affect you? How bad is it? You've suddenly got that at your fingertips. Actual data, not just rough estimates you have to try and collate on the spot.

Look, pretty graphs. Easy-to-see information. Even with colour-coding to make it obvious that high = bad.

Not just pretty graphs, but some correlated data too. Doing certain activities makes me hurt more. Being in pain stresses me out. Not a surprise to anyone with chronic pain, but something that can be shoved down a doctor's throat so that they actually listen.

(disclosure on the washing hair - I'm a curly girl. Hair washing is a major undertaking, and absolutely should not be done daily.)

The paid version, which I am currently trialling, goes further. Not only does it not restrict you to just 30 days of available data, but it runs analyses on your data to show even more correlations.

The spoonie mantra about how doing shit like housework actually helps? Hey, look, doing shit like housework actually improves my mood.

It improves my energy levels too, apparently.

Now, the energy thing isn't tracking spoons/pacing (you'll need something else if you want that), but it's still really useful. You're tracking the general symptom here.

There's even a scheme whereby those in the Bearable community who can afford to can sponsor additional subscriptions for those of us who can't. That's a lottery, and I imagine there's a lot of us in the pot, so it's possible that I might be able to use the premium again in the future even if I don't manage to get this lifetime subscription award. I think that's a wonderful idea, and I can only hope that one day I'll have gotten enough of a handle on my symptoms that I can get back to work and afford not only my own subscription, but a sponsorship or two as well.

I've been using Bearable for 4 weeks now, and it's brilliant. It's simple to set up, even more simple to use. It's customisable to YOU.

I'm already making myself do stuff as simple as making bed in the morning, just because this app pointed out that maybe I should, and then it turns out it helps???

Go check out their website for more info.