title
attribute of the frame
and iframe
elementsHTML and XHTML documents that use frames or iframes
This technique relates to:
The use of the longdesc
attribute in HTML 4 on frame
and iframe
elements to specify a link to a long description of a frame is not supported well by assistive technologies. The use of title
as described in this technique is recommended instead.
The objective of this technique is to demonstrate the use of the title
attribute of the frame
or iframe
element to describe the contents
of each frame. This provides a label for the frame so users can determine which frame to
enter and explore in detail. It does not label the individual page (frame) or inline
frame (iframe) in the frameset.
Note that the title
attribute labels frames, and is different from the
title
element which labels documents. Both should be provided, since the
first facilitates navigation among frames and the second clarifies the user's current
location.
The title
attribute is not interchangeable with the name
attribute. The title
labels the frame for users; the name
labels it for scripting and window targeting. The name
is not presented to
the user, only the title
is.
This example shows how to use the title
attribute with
frame
to describe the frames containing the navigation bar and the
document.
Example Code:
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>
<title>A simple frameset document</title>
</head>
<frameset cols="10%, 90%">
<frame src="nav.html" title="Main menu" />
<frame src="doc.html" title="Documents" />
<noframes>
<body>
<a href="lib.html" title="Library link">Select to
go to the electronic library</a>
</body>
</noframes>
</frameset>
</html>
This example shows how to use the title attribute with iframe
to
describe the contents of an inline frame. The example also includes an alternative
link to the page included by the iframe element for older browsers, which may not
understand the iframe
element.
Example Code:
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>
<title>A document using iframe</title>
</head>
...
<iframe src="banner-ad.html" id="testiframe"
name="testiframe" title="Advertisement">
<a href="banner-ad.html">Advertisement</a>
</iframe>
...
</html>
Resources are for information purposes only, no endorsement implied.
Check each frame and iframe element in the HTML or XHTML source code for the presence of a title attribute.
Check that the title attribute contains text that identifies the frame.
Checks #1 and #2 are true.
If this is a sufficient technique for a success criterion, failing this test procedure does not necessarily mean that the success criterion has not been satisfied in some other way, only that this technique has not been successfully implemented and can not be used to claim conformance.
Techniques are informative—that means they are not required. The basis for determining conformance to WCAG 2.0 is the success criteria from the WCAG 2.0 standard—not the techniques. For important information about techniques, please see the Understanding Techniques for WCAG Success Criteria section of Understanding WCAG 2.0.