alt is image file name Accessibility Checkpoint

Description

alt text should not be a meaningless image file name.

Help

Change the alt text to describe the information or function represented by the image, and for purely decorative images use alt="" without any global ARIA attributes. Do not use alt text containing only spaces since that’s voiced as an unlabeled image.

Applicable standards

• Matterhorn 1.02 13-004
• WCAG 2.0 F30 (Success Criteria: 1.1.1 level A)
• WCAG 2.1 F30 (Success Criteria: 1.1.1 level A)
• WCAG 2.2 F30 (Success Criteria: 1.1.1 level A)
• Section 508 (2017) F30 (Success Criteria: 1.1.1 level A)

Note: Section 508 Refresh (2017) checkpoints are equivalent to WCAG 2.0 level A and level AA checkpoints.

Change history

• 6.42 Oct 2021 Improved detection.
• 5.37 May 2020 Report placeholders matching filename.
• 5.36 Jan 2020 Fixed false positive.
• 5.35 Oct 2019 Fixed false positive.
• 5.31 Nov 2018 Detect this issue in Word documents.
• 5.28 Dec 2017 Fixed false positive.
• 5.27 Oct 2017 Improved placeholder detection. Changed rule ID from AccWcag1-1.1.9 to AccHtmlImgAltFilename.
• 5.9 Jun 2015 Detect non-standard image tags.
• 5.3 Sep 2013 Detect this issue in PDF documents.
• 5.0 Oct 2012 Don’t fire on IMG elements with no SRC attribute.
• 4.7 Jun 2012 Improved detection of image filenames in ALT text.
• 3.0 Dec 2008 Now triggers WCAG2 F30.
• 2.0 Dec 2007 Now triggers Section 508 issue.
• 1.0 Feb 2007 Added.

This page describes a web site issue detected in PDF and HTML documents by SortSite Desktop and OnDemand Suite.

Rule ID: AccHtmlImgAltFilename