Web Accessibility Training
Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa and worldwide via Webex More

Alternate text for background images
Considerations and techniques

Avoid presenting informational images in CSS backgrounds

If your image contains important information for the end user, then it should be provided in an HTML <img> tag with proper alt text. The CSS Spec says this:

For accessibility reasons, authors should not use background images as the sole method of conveying important information. See Web Content Accessibility Guideline F3 [WCAG20] . Images are not accessible in non-graphical presentations, and background images specifically might be turned off in high-contrast display modes. Source .

Can't avoid using CSS images or want to alt text for "non-important" ambient photos etc?

The CSS spec makes this a "SHOULD" not a "MUST" because there are times when visual design or existing code makes it difficult to change it to an HTML image without redesigning the front-end. Other times the author may want to provide alternate text for an ambient image that is not "important" to the understanding of the content but as a courtesy to screen reader users who prefer knowing what is in the image. Here is a detailed article on ambient images vs pure decoration vs informational images.

When providing alternate text for the CSS image, there are number of considerations

If the <div> tag has any content inside it, then a role="img" and aria-label could obscure the inside content because of the accessible name calculation , or the assistive technology might just ignore the aria-label .

So do not put the CSS background image inside a <div> that contains any content. It's best to use an empty <span> and an aria-label with role="img"

Do this:
<div>
<span class="background-image" role="img" aria-label="[place alt text here]> </span>
[all the rest of my content]
</div>

Don't do this:
<div class="background-image" role="img" aria-label="blah blah blah">
[all the rest of my content]
</div>

What if the author has to have a CSS image on a div that contains content

Sometimes there are dependencies in the CSS stack and messing with it can cause upset the design and layout of the site, or a request to change the code could get hung up in approval from various stakeholders. In cases where the author has to have the background image in the <div> that wraps up other content, then a hacky fallback is to do this.
<div class="background-image" >
<span role="img" aria-label="[place alt text here]> </span>
[all the rest of my content]
</div>

This is a hack because semantically the alternate text is not on the element that actually has the image. However, from a screen reader perspective the <div> with the background image is ignored and so placing the <span> directly following it will provide that information in a way that will seem as if the alternate text was in the same place as the background image.

Summary

  • Try not to use CSS for important informational images
  • For ambient images that are CSS, it is a courtesy to provide alternate text. When doing so, place image in its own empty<span> with an aria-label and role="img.This is also true, in a situation where CSS must be used for information content.
  • If the <div> with the CSS image absolutely MUST contain other content, then provide an empty <span> with an aria-label and role="img" immediately following the <div> that has the image.

Feel free to comment on Twitter @davidmacd

Author information:

David MacDonald is a veteran WCAG member, co-editor of Using WAI ARIA in HTML5 and HTML5 Accessibility Task Force Member. Opinions are my own.




CONTACT US

For a quote or just to chat about your organization's needs


EMAIL

help at can hyphen adapt dot com, (spoken phonetically to trick spam bots)

PHONE

six one three, eight zero six, nine zero zero five

SOCIAL MEDIA