alt is image file name Accessibility Checkpoint

Description

alt text should not be an 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)
• 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