@pixelate@dhamlinmusic@lynessence@quanin@mcourcel But making accessible PDFs is possible! All you need is fifty thousand hours of training directly from Adobe, two software packages nobody has ever heard of before, and for making accessible pdfs to be your full time job. Either that or you could just hire one of the people from the thousands of ads I get in my Linkedin messages every day from companies nobody has ever heard of who specialize in pdf remediation.
@fastfinge@dhamlinmusic@lynessence@quanin@mcourcel And then I take those PDF's and either convert them to something else or run them through AI if they're image ones. Of course if I have to make them accessible PDF's I just use Word to save as PDF or something. I wish the format hadn't been invented and people used EPUB for readonly files. Or HTML. Or something.
@pixelate@dhamlinmusic@lynessence@quanin@mcourcel The problem PDFs still solve, that no other file format is even trying to do, is that it makes it obvious (if you know where and how to look) if a PDF file was modified after generation. That's why they get used for contracts.
@pixelate@dhamlinmusic@lynessence@quanin@mcourcel The obvious solution is just put every file on the blockchain and then something something cryptography hash mining something something distributed something something free market Yay! Success!
@fastfinge@dhamlinmusic@lynessence@pixelate@mcourcel Yes, I know. This need to connect everything to the internet is going to kill us before anything else does. I mean, what's next? You can't open your fridge unless you can pass Face ID on your phone? Don't even get me started on why my fridge needs internet access anyway. Every appliance I own is dumb and it'll stay that way where possible.
@quanin@dhamlinmusic@lynessence@pixelate@mcourcel Samsung is putting ads on there $3,000 smart fridges. So yes. But sadly, if you want accessibility, you don't really get that choice. Thermostats with just a couple buttons are pretty much gone, for example. It's a touch screen now, and that means an app for us.
@fastfinge@dhamlinmusic@lynessence@pixelate@mcourcel And you have no idea how much that pisses me off. Same with the people (and yes, I've heard blind people say this) who say "well just connect it to your Alexa and it'll be accessible". No, that's not accessible. That's lazy. And I'm not buying a fucking Alexa.
@fastfinge@dhamlinmusic@lynessence@pixelate@mcourcel I have none of those, and absolutely 0 appliances that require them. Yes, I'm aware that won't be a permanent thing and yes it annoys me no end. I mean look. I get the convenience, ish, though I fail to see why I need the ability to adjust the temperature of my house in Ottawa from Toronto. But I just woke up to no internet this morning for about 2 hours. That already delayed me doing a thing that gets me paid. If it also delay me doing a thing that gets me coffee I will slap someone.
@quanin@dhamlinmusic@lynessence@pixelate@mcourcel I did my lights because it saves me money. As a blindy I keep forgetting to turn them off. So smart switches and home automation ended up being a savings. Similarly, when I'm away, I set the temperature to be different than I'm at home. I couldn't really do that with an inaccessible thermostat, and again, it saves me a few bucks. My smart doorbell lowers my home insurance, so again, savings. The oven and laundry and dishwasher and instantpot being connected didn't save me anything, but they're the only way to get access to the touch screens. So yeah, I live in a smart home these days.
@fastfinge@dhamlinmusic@lynessence@pixelate@mcourcel I'm the only person in my apartment 90% of the time, so the lights are almost never on. Not that it would save me any money, as I don't pay for heat/electricity here - that's included in the rent. I prefer a lower temperature when I'm home so I can just set my dumb thermostat to where I want it and forget it. It also prevents my pipes from being frozen. I don't own an Instapot because I have no reason to, my intercom calls me, and even if I wanted a doorbell/camera it'd violate my lease so that's out. I dread the day I need to replace my microwave for exactly this reason, because I also dislike being attached to my phone.
@quanin@dhamlinmusic@lynessence@pixelate@mcourcel Ah, I pay for the utilities here. And frequent zoom meetings mean I need to have the lights on for that. I also record a lot of videos for various purposes, so have special lighting setups for 4k stuff.
@fastfinge@dhamlinmusic@lynessence@pixelate@mcourcel My primary workspace gets excellent light for videos during the day if I need that. No one's getting me on Zoom at 4:00 AM so I don't care what the light level is then.
@pixelate@dhamlinmusic@lynessence@quanin@mcourcel {shocked, awkward face} Oh! I'm sorry! Uh, well, photosynthesis...is that offensive? Because you're blind? I guess that's offensive! You can't even see photos! Sorry, sorry! I said "see". I meant hear! You can't hear the photos! I will now spend the next five minutes awkwardly apologizing while I do absolutely nothing else to make anything easier or more accessible for you.
