F65 Round 2

F65: Failure of Success Criterion 1.1.1 due to omitting the alt attribute on img elements, area elements, and input elements of type "image"

Applicability

This failure relates to:

Success Criterion 1.1.1 (Non-text Content) How to Meet 1.1.1 (Non-text Content) Understanding Success Criterion 1.1.1 (Non-text Content)

Description

This describes a failure condition for text alternatives on images. In HTML, if there is no alt attribute, then assistive technologies may not able to identify the image or to convey its purpose to the user.

Some Assistive Technology might attempt to compensate for the missing alt text by reading the file name of the image. But it is insufficient to rely simply on the file name for many reasons. For example, file names may not be descriptive (e.g., images/nav01.gif), and technology specifications do not require descriptive file names. Some assistive technology may not read the file name if alt text is absent.

For non HTML congtent, or for HTML content where the alt attribute is missing, then so long as an appropriate text alternative is available through the accessibility API then this failure condition does not apply.

Examples

Example 1: Missing alt text

In the code example below, the person using a screen reader would not know the purpose of the image.

Example Code:

<img src="../images/animal.jpg" />

Resources

• Microsoft Active Accessibility 2.0 SDK. Includes Inspect32.exe and other MSAA tools.

• Gnome Accessibility Toolkit documentation

• Microsoft Internet Explorer Developer Toolbar. Allows examination of script-generated DOM in Microsoft Internet Explorer.

• Firebug. Allows examination of script-generated DOM in Firefox.

Related Techniques

H67: Using null alt text and no title attribute on img elements for images that AT should ignore Tests

Procedure

General Procedure:

1. Install a tool that allows you to view the accessibility API for your platform (see Resources section)
2. Find each image element
3. Check that the name property for each image is populated with an appropriate text alternative

Optional Procedure for HTML content:

1. identify any img elements, area elements with href attributes, and input elements of type "image"
2. check that the alt attribute for these elements exists.

Expected Results

General Procedure:

If check #3 is false, then the failure condition applies and the content fails this success criterion.

Optional Procedure for HTML:

If check #2 is false, this failure condition applies and content fails the Success Criterion.