commit aa646fbc30d5cbcab65c8564f96f7ac989603bdf parent 8ebd2280c3d576655f5ba55921cb5ca9fff63c5e Author: Chris Bracken <chris@bracken.jp> Date: Sun, 24 Mar 2019 11:21:34 -0700 Improve alt text in Mexico posts Improves image alt text in posts from Mexico for readers using screen-readers. Diffstat:
10 files changed, 18 insertions(+), 32 deletions(-)
diff --git a/content/post/2001-08-17-merida-yucatan-mexico.md b/content/post/2001-08-17-merida-yucatan-mexico.md @@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ to the bus station, it was 9 pm, so after checking out the schedule and booking tickets, there was just enough time to grab some dinner and get some sleep before heading off to Mérida first thing the next morning.<!--more--> -{{< figure src="/post/2001-08-17-cathedral.jpg" alt="The Mérida Cathedral" >}} +{{< figure src="/post/2001-08-17-cathedral.jpg" alt="Façade of the Mérida cathedral in the evening light. Groups of pedestrians pass along the sidewalk in front as Volkswagen Beetles drive by." >}} Sitting in a Mexican bus station is an activity in itself. Drenched in sweat and surrounded by hundreds of other sweaty people carrying bags, backpacks, and diff --git a/content/post/2001-08-28-quest-for-a-hammock.md b/content/post/2001-08-28-quest-for-a-hammock.md @@ -8,8 +8,7 @@ tags: title: Quest for a Hammock --- -{{< figure src="/post/2001-08-28-old-door.jpg" - alt="Crumbling building façade in Mérida" >}} +{{< figure src="/post/2001-08-28-old-door.jpg" alt="A worn-down wooden door lies framed by a crumbling building façade in Mérida. Traces of faded lettering remain where the paint has not flaked away." >}} In Mérida, most people sleep in hammocks. Walk down any residential street and look in the windows and you’ll see hammocks strung all over the room. What I’m diff --git a/content/post/2001-08-31-progreso-yucatan-mexico.md b/content/post/2001-08-31-progreso-yucatan-mexico.md @@ -14,8 +14,7 @@ puts Canadian beaches to shame. On a hot weekend, Progreso makes a fun day trip. The wind keeps you cool, and as long as you keep ordering drinks, the food comes free at the palapa huts on the beach.<!--more--> -{{< figure src="/post/2001-08-31-palapa.jpg" - alt="Palapas on the beach at Progreso" >}} +{{< figure src="/post/2001-08-31-palapa.jpg" alt="Three beach chairs sit in the shade of a palm-thatched palapa on the beach overlooking the ocean. A small 'lancha' boat is pulled up on the beach. On the left, Progreso's long pier extends over the water towards the horizon." >}} The one thing that is impossible to miss in Progreso is the pier. At its original length of 6 km, it was the longest in all of México, and with its new diff --git a/content/post/2001-09-06-isla-mujeres-quintana-roo-mexico.md b/content/post/2001-09-06-isla-mujeres-quintana-roo-mexico.md @@ -8,8 +8,7 @@ tags: title: Isla Mujeres, Quintana Roo, México --- -{{< figure src="/post/2001-09-06-lancha.jpg" - alt="A boat moored off of Playa Norte on Isla Mujeres" >}} +{{< figure src="/post/2001-09-06-lancha.jpg" alt="A small 'lancha' boat floats in the crystal-clear blue waters of the Caribbean, moored a few metres offshore a white sandy beach." >}} > Lo que tu eres, yo fui > Lo que yo soy, luego serás @@ -48,7 +47,7 @@ turned into a party town full of drunken gringos. The locals appear to want to keep it this way, and the local San Francisco store stops selling alcohol at 8:30 or 9:00 in the evenings. -{{< figure src="/post/2001-09-06-sunset.jpg" alt="Sunset from Playa Norte" >}} +{{< figure src="/post/2001-09-06-sunset.jpg" alt="In the distance, the silhouette of a lancha passes through the shimmering reflection of the setting sun's light on the ocean." >}} From the downtown Cancún bus station, we grabbed the Route 13 bus north along Avenida Tulum to the Puerto Juarez ferry terminal, then hopped on a boat for @@ -83,8 +82,7 @@ walkways above the huge walled off section of ocean where the largest of the turtles swim, and according to the guy who showed us around, if you fall in, 'te comen!', 'they eat you!'. -{{< figure src="/post/2001-09-06-skeletons.jpg" - alt="Handmade skeleton toys on the sidewalk" >}} +{{< figure src="/post/2001-09-06-skeletons.jpg" alt="Four small hand-carved wooden skeleton toys playing musical instruments and wearing sombreros sit on the step of a storefront with their feet on the sidewalk. A small wooden armadillo wanders by." >}} The ruins of Mundaca’s fortress are in the central part of the island, and if you want to be eaten alive by mosquitos (there are Dengue Fever warnings all @@ -112,8 +110,7 @@ life-jacket wearing, water spitting drowners. I did get rammed in the legs by a nurse shark though. It felt like sandpaper and was among the creepier sensations I have experienced in my life. -{{< figure src="/post/2001-09-06-nativity-scene.jpg" - alt="Isla Mujeres underwater-themed nativity scene" >}} +{{< figure src="/post/2001-09-06-nativity-scene.jpg" alt="The gazebo at the centre of the Isla Mujeres plaza decorated in an underwater-themed nativity scene. The virgin mary stands at the centre, her hands in prayer. Fishing nets filled with starfish, tropical fish, and multi-coloured Christmas lights surround the gazebo." >}} There are also some Mayan ruins at the south tip of the island, though there’s very little left of them. Most of the ruins have been hurled into the ocean by diff --git a/content/post/2001-09-11-dzibilchaltun-yucatan-mexico.md b/content/post/2001-09-11-dzibilchaltun-yucatan-mexico.md @@ -12,8 +12,7 @@ About halfway between Mérida and Progresso lie the ruins of Dzibilchaltún, an important centre in the ancient world of the Maya. The name means 'The place with writing on the stones.'<!--more--> -{{< figure src="/post/2001-09-11-munecas-door.jpg" - alt="Looking out from inside Templo de las Siete Muñecas" >}} +{{< figure src="/post/2001-09-11-munecas-door.jpg" alt="View framed by the doorway of the of Templo de las Siete Muñecas looking out over the ruins of a stone building and four-sized stone stela on a raised platform. A path leads past the ruins, through the low jungle, and towards the horizon." >}} Dzibilchaltún covers an area of about 16 square kilometres, in which there are about 8400 structures. The central part of the site covers three square @@ -34,8 +33,7 @@ there as offerings to the gods. At the other end is a courtyard, a pyramid, a ball court and the cenote, as well as an open chapel that was constructed during the Colonial era, in the late 16th and early 17th century. -{{< figure src="/post/2001-09-11-munecas-outside.jpg" - alt="Templo de las Siete Muñecas" >}} +{{< figure src="/post/2001-09-11-munecas-outside.jpg" alt="View of the Templo de las Siete Muñecas from the path. In the foreground, a hiker walks toward a large worn stela on a raised platform." >}} The Temple of the Seven Dolls is probably the most interesting part of the site. At least it was to us. At one time, the temple was adorned with plaster diff --git a/content/post/2001-12-18-palenque-chiapas-mexico.md b/content/post/2001-12-18-palenque-chiapas-mexico.md @@ -14,8 +14,7 @@ unstable state during the past 10 years, it is also home to some of the most incredible scenery, archaeological sites and indigenous culture in the country.<!--more--> -{{< figure src="/post/2001-12-18-temple-of-inscriptions.jpg" - alt="Mayan ruins of the Temple of the Inscriptions at Palenque" >}} +{{< figure src="/post/2001-12-18-temple-of-inscriptions.jpg" alt="The Mayan ruins of the Temple of the Inscriptions at Palenque towering over a courtyard surrounded by jungle. A large staircase leads up the main face of the pyramid. Rain pours down in torrents." >}} The town of Palenque sits only a few minutes by bike, foot or bus from the ruins of the ancient Mayan city of Palenque. The ruins themselves extend over a diff --git a/content/post/2001-12-21-san-cristobal-de-las-casas-chiapas.md b/content/post/2001-12-21-san-cristobal-de-las-casas-chiapas.md @@ -17,8 +17,7 @@ day-trips to the surrounding villages of San Juan Chamula and Zinacantán—indigenous villages comprising the Tzotzil and Tzeltal indigenous groups respectively.<!--more--> -{{< figure src="/post/2001-12-21-plaza.jpg" - alt="Plaza in San Cristóbal de las Casas" >}} +{{< figure src="/post/2001-12-21-plaza.jpg" alt="The bright yellow façade of a catheral faces the main plaza in San Cristóbal de las Casas. Pedestrials mill about the square in groups." >}} In town, we met a law student named Luís who took a group of us to the villages. In San Juan Chamula, we first visited the shaman’s hut for the @@ -47,8 +46,7 @@ sell them at the markets and on the street. The textiles are all made from hand, from the thread, to hand-weaving and embroidering. Typically, a medium-sized blanket takes two to three weeks to produce. -{{< figure src="/post/2001-12-21-beans.jpg" - alt="Beans for sale at the market" >}} +{{< figure src="/post/2001-12-21-beans.jpg" alt="Dozens of varieties of dried beans in many colours arrayed for sale in bins and large sacks for sale at the market" >}} Back in San Cristóbal, we spent a few days visiting the markets and wandering around town trying out the local food before heading back north for Palenque diff --git a/content/post/2001-12-24-tulum-quintana-roo-mexico.md b/content/post/2001-12-24-tulum-quintana-roo-mexico.md @@ -19,8 +19,7 @@ stops along a long, empty stretch of highway. We grabbed a plate of up) was blue. Sort of an off-grey blue. It tasted like milk mixed with dishwater. -{{< figure src="/post/2001-12-24-tulum.jpg" - alt="Mayan ruins overlooking the ocean at Tulúm" >}} +{{< figure src="/post/2001-12-24-tulum.jpg" alt="Mayan ruins sit on a bluff of rock covered with low scrub overlooking the Caribbean. Below, waves crash against the rocks." >}} The best time to see the ruins is, without a doubt, sunrise. The ruins at Tulúm, while not spectacular except for the two-metre rock wall surrounding the diff --git a/content/post/2001-12-26-chichen-itza-yucatan-mexico.md b/content/post/2001-12-26-chichen-itza-yucatan-mexico.md @@ -15,8 +15,7 @@ in Meso-America. The close proximity of the ruins to Cancún and the size of some of the structures have made these the most famous Mayan ruins in the country.<!--more--> -{{< figure src="/post/2001-12-26-el-castillo.jpg" - alt="El Castillo pyramid at Chichen Itzá" >}} +{{< figure src="/post/2001-12-26-el-castillo.jpg" alt="A view from the ground below the El Castillo pyramid at Chichen Itzá. Visitors climb the steep staircase leading up the centre of the face of the pyramid. A few people stand silhouetted at the top, looking down on the surrouding jungle." >}} The image that most people associate with Chichen Itzá is *El Castillo*. The pyramid rises more than 23 metres above the ground, with steep staircases up @@ -42,8 +41,7 @@ hot and humid, not to mention dark, but the climb is worth it. Eventually, at the top of the staircase, if you’re lucky or pushy enough, you can catch a glimpse of a jewel-encrusted jaguar altar, used by the Maya for sacrifices. -{{< figure src="/post/2001-12-26-ball-court.jpg" - alt="The ball court at Chichen Itzá" >}} +{{< figure src="/post/2001-12-26-ball-court.jpg" alt="The ball court at Chichen Itzá. Large, perfectly flat stone walls rise above the grass. Two stone hoops protrude, one from each wall, facing sideways. A crowd of people stands at the far end of the court." >}} The Ball Court is another feat of engineering. The walls are each approximately 8 metres high, with structures at the top for viewing the game. At either end diff --git a/content/post/2001-12-27-valladolid-yucatan-mexico.md b/content/post/2001-12-27-valladolid-yucatan-mexico.md @@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ sell traditional *huipiles* near the plaza downtown. The city is still roughly centered on the *Cenote Zací* that was the ceremonial centre of the original Mayan settlement. -{{< figure src="/post/2001-12-27-cenote.jpg" alt="Cenote Zací" >}} +{{< figure src="/post/2001-12-27-cenote.jpg" alt="View of Cenote Zací. Stalactites and vines hang from above. A few swimmers can be seen near the edge of the pool. A path leads upwards through the trees." >}} The cenote is one of the most beautiful I’ve ever seen. To get to it, you hike down a passage into a cavern, then wind your way down the side to get to water @@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ who run through the streets every morning at 5 am. The government of Spain has apparently deemed Valladolid to be one of the most Spanish cities in the Americas, and donates money to help in its preservation. -{{< figure src="/post/2001-12-27-cenote-top.jpg" alt="Cenote Zací" >}} +{{< figure src="/post/2001-12-27-cenote-top.jpg" alt="View from above, looking down into Cenote Zací. Vines hang down to the water from above. A stone staircase leads up from the dark blue-green waters. A few scattered fallen leaves litter the surface of the water." >}} Probably the most exciting thing that happened while we were there was the rain. We had gone off in search of what is supposed to be an absolutely amazing @@ -80,8 +80,7 @@ the country that November when Francisco Madero flew across the border into Piedras Negras, Coahuila. The revolution wasn’t over until 1920; but as they say, the opening chapters were written in blood, here in Valladolid. -{{< figure src="/post/2001-12-27-truck.jpg" alt="Broken down truck" - title="'It hurts more to walk'" >}} +{{< figure src="/post/2001-12-27-truck.jpg" alt="The rusted carcass of a truck parked on the side of the street. Painted across the front: Duele mas andar a pie (it hurts more to walk). On the bent and twisted remains of the bumper: Asi como me vez te veras (one day, you'll look like this too)." title="'It hurts more to walk'" >}} Unhappy with Spanish control of a land they considered their own, a small band of revolutionaries had worked together for months, planning the overthrow of