[andai]

True. I still want screenshots though!

>This program was originally written for blind users, but many sighted users have taken advantage of the unique scripting capabilities of this program

Not sure a Braille book is a suitable metaphor here. A Braille book that is readable by people who don't know Braille, and also (to some degree) markets itself to sighted people?

[jquast]

I stand by my metaphor. It’s a command-line interface, a picture of text is only reducing its accessibility.

To complain about the visually impaired not doing enough to make the content more accessible for the visually gifted. I’m just too upset to respond to this kind of discussion. This is my last HN discussion, you’re right, blind people should take screenshots of their programs, enjoy your contrarian community

[blindgeek]

Another metaphor would be a screenshot of bash, or a screenshot of cat, or a screenshot of the original /bin/ed. Next they'll be wanting someone to stream a session of /bin/cat on youtube. Yes, this program was developed with blind people in mind. Plenty of sighted people have found uses for it, and that's lovely. For blind people, there's really no equivalent to the screenshot. Maybe a typescript. Maybe a few minutes of audio from a TTS. Of course, the latter would be useless to a deaf-blind person. But our best bet is reading some docu and taking it for a spin. It is not too much to ask of sighted people to step out of their comfort zones for a little while. Your world is highly suboptimal for me. Care to step into mine for a bit? Not having access to cheap visual imagery is in fact no cross to bear.

[strogonoff]

Without doubt, implying that lack of screenshots of software designed for blind users is unfair should tickle a self-aware person’s sense of irony and one should be careful with phrasing.

That said, I suspect such requests are not fully baseless.

While nothing beats actually putting on a blindfold and trying, it does not seem unreasonable for a sighted person to try to find out what, e.g., Braille looks like. This knowledge may give them ideas into how it could be possible to incorporate more of it into predominantly visual spaces, for example. We have different modes of attending to the world, and in fact it is seeing Braille in public spaces that reminds many sighted people that not being able to see it is actually a thing (and perhaps even prompts some to learn it).

Is it not similar with software? If it could increase adoption of accessible software among users who do not need it in their current state, would that not support the goal? (Not to deny that screenshots are really beside the point when it comes to documentation completeness of such software, of course.)

[em-bee]

us sighted people are imaginatively impaired. we need screenshots because we don't have developed the capacity to imagine an interface from a textual description like blind people probably do.

[strogonoff]

Absolutely.

[chongli]

It doesn’t have to be an image to be a screenshot. It could just as easily be a properly formatted monospace block quote of the terminal contents.

[andai]

https://files.catbox.moe/ta3tun.png

[earthboundkid]

I'm sorry to see you go. Yes, this is HN at its absolute worst and most self-entitled.

[DiggyJohnson]

I don't think this disagreement is worth being so upset about. Be well my friend.

[earthboundkid]

Boy, it must be hard when you want someone to take a minor step to make it easier for you to understand or use some software, but your values aren't shared by the community of software makers, so they don't do it.