web & life tips & accessibility advice

Hi! this is my attempt at creating web tips and advice from the perspective of an older disabled teen based on things ive noticed on spacehey. this will include tech, life, and accessibility advice :] if you have anything you want to discuss or any questions leave a comment and i'll either reply to you or add to the post

tech

my images load really slowly. help!

link to smaller images, whether that's them being physically smaller (ex. having less pixels. so for example a 40x60 pixel image has less pixels than a 1200x1800 pixel image) or having less resolution. in general if your images load slowly, it is because you are using pngs instead of jpgs. while pngs are good for better image quality, jpgs are generally better for most internet use because they are smaller and therefore load faster! the quality difference isn't noticeable for something like spacehey.

how do i write image descriptions in a technical way? (more on why these matter below!) 

on spacehey there are two ways! the first is if you are inserting an image by actually writing out html (aka by using the <img> tag). to do this, you simply add an attribute inside the <img> tag itself, just like you would write width or source. the attribute for an image description is "alt" so for example you could have <img alt="This is an example."> as your first tag! the second is if you are using spacehey's image adder, or the little icon in the blog maker. that way is actually way easier because there's a box for the url and a box for the description.

i'm getting really excited about html/css. where can i explore this more?

w3 schools has gotten a lot better and it's a great learning resource. for examples of creativity and  a LOT more resources i would recommend neocities where you can make your own websites & see a lot more coding examples

life

what do you know about this stuff anyway?

i've been in a lot of fandoms & had a lot of weird experiences. these are based on my own experiences but they might not work for you and that's totally fine. just trying to offer some alternate perspectives.

there's a big problem with gore on this website. how can i do something about it?

you are never going to stop people from posting gore especially if you keep reacting to it. warn your friends (privately so you're less of a target) and block the accounts of people who keep posting it. make a new page if you need to or you keep getting targeted.

what is proship/antiship discourse?

proshippers basically believe that people should be allowed to express themselves however they want in fiction because fiction is distinct from reality. antishippers believe that there should be restrictions on how people can express themselves (generally online) with fiction/fanart/etc because fiction can cause harm to people and affect people's thought patterns.

i don't think either of these groups are necessarily wrong or right—i think they both have good points—and my personal view is that everyone regardless of what content they're consuming should be keeping in mind that what they think about a lot can affect their thought patterns. i also think that we should not be focusing on limiting the types of things people are "allowed" to read/watch/think about in a time when people are literally banning books. policing yourself too heavily with what you think about and perceiving your thoughts as direct reflections of your morality can worsen issues like intrusive thoughts (where you think about things like violence, sexual assault, attraction to pets, etc. that you don't actually want to do, but your brain is "testing" how you react to them, often resulting in you obsessing over them and thinking you're a horrible person when you're really not). 

overall if there's content you don't want to see just avoid it and block people who post it. also try not to judge yourself too harshly if you enjoy something you didn't think you would and remember that you are not defined by your thoughts or fantasies and doing or thinking about a few weird things does not define you as a person. also remember that judging people based on whether or not they make you feel uncomfortable and not whether or not they are causing harm to actual people can cause you to neglect real issues and helping real victims. let's focus on like....idk....real issues in the world instead of fictional gripes. just block people if they make you uncomfortable it's not the end of the world

i'm scared to block someone!

it's literally fine to block someone and it's not the end of the world. if they're your friend try to communicate with them and talk things through but if you're getting bad vibes from someone generally trust your gut

someone blocked me!

it happens. if you genuinely don't know why and you were close, try asking a mutual friend about it, but if you think it's because of something you did, reflect and try to grow in the future. we all make mistakes and it's a part of growing up. if you don't know that person literally don't even worry about it

i'm talking to adults online, is that okay?

adults should never ever ever directly message you or rely on you too heavily in smaller groups for emotional support. this is my number one sign to cut a particular off. i generally think that it's okay for teens to be in spaces where adults are careful and explicitly conscious of how they interact with teens and are focused on the teens' wellbeing but spaces of 50/50 adults and teens can get really weird. if an adult says they "forget" you're a teen or often acts like they forget they're talking to a teenager, this is also a bad sign. when you're talking to an adult, you should always be aware that they're an adult—and hopefully the adult you're talking to is mature enough that they seem different from you so it's hard to forget—and they should ALWAYS be even more aware that you're a teen.

all that being said, i think it's generally fine for people in different stages of life to have casual friendships and talk about life and make jokes together and stuff. it's important for teens to be able to get advice from adults especially if they have difficult home lives and to know that things get better. just make sure that clear boundaries exist

i have a crush on someone older than me, help!

it really depends on how much older they are but generally 1 year of age difference should be your limit for dating until you're 16-17 or so in my opinion, and past that you really don't want to be like, a junior in high school dating a college freshman or a senior high schooler dating a sophomore in college. if it's past that limit i would advise against telling them unless:

1. you feel like you need to get it off your chest and get closure

2. you explicitly state you're not looking for a relationship

3. you know that this person will understand these things and won't take advantage of you

regardless you'll probably get over it. it's pretty normal for younger people to have puppy love unrealistic crushes on older people. however it is not normal for older people to take advantage of that though and even if it feels flattering you should tell a trusted adult or other older friend so they can help you handle the situation.

you are always the vulnerable one in these situations and please be aware of that because others definitely should be

accessibility

why does accessibility matter?

from my perspective, i have a lot of eye pain from multiple chronic illnesses that i live with—both dysautonomia and chronic migraines. about 80% of my life, i have at least a headache. when i go online to a site that i'm trying to make friends on and i see a lot of inaccessible elements, it makes my headaches worse and more frequent. it causes me genuine pain and costs me cognitive function. i have more trouble doing my schoolwork or things i enjoy. disabled people aren't just some vague idea we actually exist and there are a lot of us. the internet is what we often rely on as a safe haven and it really is nice when people respect that.

what are some quick ways i can make my page accessible?

learn to implement a warning if your page has a lot of flashing elements if you're really married to them. if you're not married to them, remove them, or create a blog post with flashy gifs you like that is explicitly described as such. try not to use eyestrain elements. use a font that is legible. make sure you have enough contrast. if you're having trouble determining whether text is readable enough, you can use online resources like contrast checkers to help you. you can also add image descriptions and/or transcripts to your page.

how do i write a Good image description?

keep it short and sweet, but use your best judgment to add all the information that would be necessary. some basic tips i know are:

Do not make your image descriptions overlong!! if it's a complex art piece or an image with a lot of text, consider making a transcript instead of putting it in the image itself and writing the transcript below. this is easier for people who use screen readers (devices/extensions that allow people with low vision to hear images described) to get a cue when something might be longer and have the option to skip over it

if it's a common meme, just name the meme. for example you could say "the woman pointing angrily at cat meme with the text 'flashing gifs' edited over the woman and the text 'me' edited over the cat" to describe that meme. You don't need to overexplain something that most people would know.

when describing someone's physical features, the default is not white or thin. it's very odd to only say that a Black person is Black but never ever specify someone's whiteness. describe everyone. also if you don't know someone's ethnicity, don't make assumptions. you can always just describe someone as "pale-skinned." please also do not use food names for darker skin colors it's weird. just say "she has medium brown skin" instead of "she has chocolate skin." people are not food, rip hannibal lecter

the tone of your image description should fit the image. if it's a piece of art you made, it might make more sense to provide more of an emotional side of the piece, but if it's a stock photo, you probably want to keep things shorter and more clinical.

if you have a lot of gifs or images on your page to show your interests, consider just having the image description be, for example, "The Owl House" instead of a detailed description of the owl house gif you have up. it's easier for people to get through your page understanding what everything is and the overall message

what do i do if it's a video or a gif?

if it's a video, you probably want to do a transcript, and describe the visuals along with whatever audio it has. this is trickier and i'd definitely recommend looking at examples

if it's a gif you can do the same thing as an image really, just describe what's happening in the gif in short form

how else can i be a disabled ally/generally good person?

don't use ableist language such as "delusional" when avoidable because this can be very harmful to people struggling with those actual experiences. don't trivialize things like intrusive thoughts. don't make fun of people's scars or bodies or say you need warnings for how someone looks. understand when someone says they don't like eyestrain that they mean it. don't use actual literal ableist slurs. show empathy towards your disabled friends' needs but also don't patronize them