2026-04-12 02:37:00
Heya! I just saw this post from Jacob Varney about adding alt text to your stuff.
And, while I agree with the notion of doing that, the method he shows is sadly also wrong, and won't meaningfully improve your sites accessibility.
In markdown, to add alt text to your images, you do this:
The syntax Jacob showed is actually for adding title text, which is intended to show when hovering over an image, not for accessible image descriptions. Depending on the screenreader, it might not be read at all.
I've already emailed Jacob, but i figured I'd make a seperate post about this as well, to make sure noone is under the illusion that their images are accessible when they actually aren't.
2026-04-11 17:04:00
So, it's a day after my colonoscopy (yes, I had to do the truly awful diet and prep, and I was up all night) and I'm still tired. Still, I now feel better than I did when hearing my heart beat all too fast under the glare of hospital lights!
As is usual since signing up for Bear Blog, I was browsing through my RSS feed and found a totally unexpected post from a most kind person at the Field Notes blog. They posted some very generous (too generous, really) words about the photo-related blog I have at Pika.
This made me think about three things ~ firstly, that I need to email this most kind person and thank them (I owe them an email anyway, but the past several days have been me fighting a very bland diet and dealing with a hospital visit); secondly, that I have a feeling we have a number of things in common; and thirdly, that Bear Blog has so far given me good feels around digital community and what has been truly lacking in the mainstream web universe of big social media, where an easy Like substitutes for authentic conversation.
Genuine online communication is what I have been missing.
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All words and photos by me - a human. Not by ai.
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2026-04-11 09:29:00
I was bummed thinking that Markdown didn't have a means of adding alternative text to images, but apparently it does! For those who might be new to digital accessibility, an image with alternative text (alt text) provides screen reader users with text that can be narrated in place of the image. WCAG is an authority on digital accessibility and gives more information on text alternatives: Understanding Guideline 1.1 Text Alternatives.
It's pretty easy to add using Markdown: all you have to do is come up with a brief description of your image that provides enough information about it based on the context (i.e. you are describing facets of the image relative to your post). Some say it should be 125 characters or less, but whether that's functionally necessary or a best practice is debated. I prefer to write something like "transcript follows" when the description gets long (which is often the case for graphs, charts, and infographics).
Once you have that, place it in quotation marks after the URL for your image's location. For example, if I were writing a post talking about my adorable doofus of a cat, I would write the following link:
If you hover over this image (or read it using a screen reader), you'll get that parenthesized text.
I only recently started adding alt text to images in my blog, but I will be from now on! I should say that you don't have to do this for every image: images that are just decorative and don't contribute to the post (for example, maybe you put some ivy in your footer) don't need alt text. No alt text just means screen readers pass over the image quietly.
2026-04-11 03:57:00
L'excellent podcast Projets Libres (animé par Walid Nouh) a publié un nouvel épisode passionnant intitulé « Mets de la vie privée dans ton smartphone ! », avec Antoine (alias Fla, bien connu au sein de Framasoft). Le but de l'émission était simple, salutaire et grand public. L'invité voulait expliquer la différence entre nos ordinateurs et nos téléphones portables en matière de collecte de données et présenter des alternatives viables (comme /e/OS, Ubuntu Touch, etc.) pour échapper à la surveillance de Google et d'Apple.
Pourtant, cette belle démarche de vulgarisation a rapidement été prise pour cible sur Mastodon par le compte officiel du projet GrapheneOS. Une réaction virulente, malheureusement coutumière de leur part, qui mérite qu'on s'y attarde pour remettre les choses dans leur contexte.
GrapheneOS n'a pas fait dans la dentelle, accusant à demi-mot Projets Libres de désinformer ses auditeurs en mettant en avant des systèmes comme /e/OS. Selon eux, ce dernier offrirait une confidentialité extrêmement médiocre et de graves lacunes de sécurité par rapport à leur propre OS mobile.
La team GrapheneOS a la fâcheuse habitude d'attaquer frontalement les autres systèmes d'exploitation alternatifs (LineageOS, /e/OS, CalyxOS) sous prétexte qu'ils ne respectent pas leurs standards très stricts en matière de sécurité pure (délais d'application des correctifs, utilisation de microG, politique de sandboxing, etc.). Dans leur viseur cette fois-ci, un podcast coupable à leurs yeux d'avoir donné la parole à un défenseur d'une approche différente de la leur.
Si GrapheneOS est incontestablement un système d'exploitation pertinent d'un point de vue technique et sécuritaire, leur communication agressive dessert totalement la cause du logiciel libre. Antoine a eu totalement raison dans son approche.
Il y a d'abord confusion entre sécurité et vie privée. Et c'est le point central de l'épisode, d'ailleurs très bien expliqué par Antoine. Ce sont deux concepts bien distincts. La sécurité (le modèle de menace de GrapheneOS) consiste à empêcher un attaquant de pirater votre téléphone. La vie privée (le modèle d'/e/OS) consiste à empêcher des entreprises légitimes, comme Google ou des courtiers en données, de profiler votre vie quotidienne de manière invisible. L'immense majorité des utilisateurs n'est pas ciblée par la NSA ou par des pirates étatiques mais par le capitalisme de surveillance. Pour ces personnes, retirer les services Google de base via /e/OS est déjà une victoire monumentale.
Parlons ensuite de l'accessibilité face à l'élitisme. Dans le podcast, Antoine explique avoir installé /e/OS pour une trentaine de personnes: ses parents, ses grands-mères, ses amis. Et ça fonctionne ! /e/OS se veut accessible au grand public et s'installe sur des dizaines d'appareils recyclés ou reconditionnés (comme les Fairphone ou de vieux Samsung). À l'inverse, GrapheneOS a longtemps nécessité l'achat paradoxal... d'un Google Pixel (bien que des partenariats comme celui avec Motorola commencent à changer la donne). Exiger que tout le monde utilise GrapheneOS, c'est fermer la porte de l'émancipation numérique à 95% de la population.
Venons-en maintenant au besoin de bienveillance dans le Libre (et dieu sait qu'on en a besoin). Attaquer un podcast communautaire francophone qui fait l'effort de transcrire, d'expliquer et de vulgariser les enjeux des smartphones est d'une grande toxicité. Walid fait un travail formidable pour mettre en lumière les communs numériques, l'open data et l'open source. Jeter l'opprobre sur un épisode d'une heure simplement parce que la solution technique mise en avant n'est pas "la leur" relève d'un esprit de chapelle épuisant. Le véritable adversaire, c'est le modèle d'extraction de données des GAFAM, pas le podcasteur qui essaie d'aider ses auditeurs à s'en défaire.
Le logiciel libre nécessite des développeurs d'élite comme ceux de GrapheneOS pour pousser les limites de la sécurité technologique. Mais il a tout autant besoin de vulgarisateurs comme Antoine et de médias comme Projets Libres pour construire des ponts vers le grand public.
Je ne peux que vous encourager à aller écouter cet excellent épisode (n'hésitez pas à laisser un commentaire positif ou 5 étoiles !). Ne laissons pas la pureté militante ou la toxicité des réseaux sociaux étouffer la voix de ceux qui font avancer les libertés numériques au quotidien, de manière inclusive et pragmatique.
2026-04-11 00:12:00
I know it’s been a while. 225 days or so, if anyone is counting.
Around the time I got laid off, my writing here began to slow down. It wasn’t right away, but gradually enough that I could feel myself slipping away. I remember telling myself I wouldn’t lose who I was in the process, and that my career wasn’t tied to my self-worth. In reality, I completely failed at keeping myself together. Still, I’d like to think I said all the right things in the beginning. They were the kinds of things that sounded solid and convincing in theory. I think some things are just easier said than done. Anyways...
I mean, really lost. The kind of lost where I wasn’t sure if I’d ever find my way back. Honestly, I’m still somewhere in the middle of it all. There were days when I thought I could see the light, and that I was getting close to something that made sense again. Then there were days I realized it might have just been my mind trying to give me grace, something to keep me moving forward. It felt like I was thrown deep in a forest with no clear path out, and for a while, even my own words couldn’t reach me there.
I kept writing, but just not here. I made a quiet decision early on to truly just write for myself. There was no audience, no pressure, no need to make anything sound polished, complete, or make myself sound put together. Most of them were just pages of thoughts I didn’t quite know what to do with. I poured everything into my journal including the messy parts, the unsure parts, the parts I wasn’t ready to share. Somehow, it kind of helped.
At that point, writing became the thing that kept catching me, like I was jumping off a cliff over and over again and my words kept finding a way to hold me before I hit the ground.
While all of that was happening, I tried, in small ways, to step outside of my own head. I went outside more and let myself sit in the warmth of the sun. On the plus side, my skin is starting to get that golden tan! I learned to appreciate running in solitude and even found comfort in the rhythm of it. I enjoyed the quiet, and the way it gave my thoughts somewhere to go. At the same time, I also found joy in running with others. In a completely unexpected turn of events, LC and I joined a run club. Somewhere in between those solo runs and group runs, I started to feel small pieces of myself come back. Baby (running) steps.
There’s a lot I could (and need to) say about these past seven months, including navigating my new norm of unemployment. I think at some point I’ll find ways to talk about it here and there. For now, I guess this is just a post to say hello, and that I am trying to find my way back here again.
Stay for a while, if you’d like. I have some stories to tell.
If you'd like to comment, please send me an email, or sign my Guestbook.
Jules: Regarding your post on BearBlog, "Finding My Way Back." I just wanted to say, "Hello there." I, too, find it very helpful to write for myself (from time to time) without any intention of publishing it anywhere. It's always given me the private space I need to sort out my feelings and thoughts without any fear of being criticized or judged. I would recommend it to anyone, because not everything needs to be shared. Some things are just for us. Thank you for sharing your post. -jp
Syl: Welcome back! It was lovely to see a new post from you pop up on my feed reader. I'm glad you've been able to find some peace in running, being outside, and journaling. I keep a journal separate from my blog that's solely for me, and it helps a lot when I need to arrange my thoughts or get something out of my head. Nature always helps as well. I look forward to reading more of your writing, but it's important to take time to yourself if you need it. ❤️
Aeryn: I’m glad for your post and honesty. It really helps me to read other people going through their stuff and finding a way through. Best wishes and looking forward to your next post when it comes :)
2026-04-10 16:19:23
Like, seriously. I have no power to persuade people to leave mainstream social media to start blogging, so I won't even try, but my desire is strong. I wish everyone had a blog, so far away from algorithmically managed social media. That way, people would be somewhat forced to pay attention, or at the very least more inclined. I don't want to keep up with my friends because a feed reminds me of their existence. I want to keep up with them because either I'm genuinely interested in seeing what they've been doing, or because they had something interesting to say about a movie, a book, a recent trip they took or a visit to a local restaurant. A thought, an idea, a craft. I don't know what the Internet would look like if it were more like Bear and less than Instagram, but I imagine it would feel a bit more positive, smaller, less overwhelming. Surely there would be some thorny stuff I can't really anticipate. But I think I'd love that.
Some of my favourite memories of people I know have to do with their blogs, and because blogging went out of fashion ages ago, these memories are really old. A friend once posted about her team on Pokémon Platinum, detailing each Pokémon she trained and making up a personality for each of them. An acquaintance I knew when I was 13 got into rollerskating and opened a blog dedicated to chronicling her progress with it; a few years after she got really into mountaineering, and now shares her love for trekking and hiking.
There is a vulnerability in blogging, because by using our words, we're not relying on our appearance, which is something we've gotten used to in recent years. We know how to sell ourselves by the proximity to things or people we like, and pictures (whether they're photographs or videos or even slides made with Canvas) can communicate an awful lot of things, but most importantly, they can communicate status. We are so used to placing ourselves on the ladder, and using it to place other people too according to our view of the world. I think blogging changes that.
With blogging, I'm asked to show up and be myself. I'm only as strong, efficient, and captivating as my ideas and my words. And because I'm not used to this kind of social space, I'm still finding my footing. There are some things I'd like to talk about with a post, but I feel like they could be seen as childish, useless, or god knows what else—truly, this is just a projection of my own doubts and vulnerability. At the end of the day, people are free to judge me and my words however they want; my fear of being perceived as less shouldn't stop me from curating a space for myself where I can feel free to express whatever I'd like. I feel like, if more of my friends curated their own space, and if I could follow their journey through life, then I'd feel a bit safer in openly sharing mine.
But here's the crux of the matter: I've been blogging for roughly 10 days and many of my posts have been about blogging. I love it as a topic, and I find it quite interesting, but surely I need to break through this obstacle if I want to use this platform in the most rewarding way. One day, when I'm older and looking back at past posts, I won't be really interested in musings about Bear. I'll probably want to know what 2026-me thought of a film they watched, or a book they read, or a day trip somewhere where grass is lush and there's no buildings in sight. One day, this place will look like more like a diary rather than a log, but somehow I still feel like I need other people to share themselves like this before I get the courage to just do it.