Success Criteria 1.1.1

Description

Non-text Content

1.1.1 All non-text content that is presented to the user has a text alternative that serves the equivalent purpose, except for the situations listed below. (Level A)Understanding Success Criterion 1.1.1

Controls, Input: If non-text content is a control or accepts user input, then it has a name that describes its purpose. (Refer to Guideline 4.1 for additional requirements for controls and content that accepts user input.)
Time-Based Media: If non-text content is time-based media, then text alternatives at least provide descriptive identification of the non-text content. (Refer to Guideline 1.2 for additional requirements for media.)
Test: If non-text content is a test or exercise that would be invalid if presented in text, then text alternatives at least provide descriptive identification of the non-text content.
Sensory: If non-text content is primarily intended to create a specific sensory experience, then text alternatives at least provide descriptive identification of the non-text content.
CAPTCHA: If the purpose of non-text content is to confirm that content is being accessed by a person rather than a computer, then text alternatives that identify and describe the purpose of the non-text content are provided, and alternative forms of CAPTCHA using output modes for different types of sensory perception are provided to accommodate different disabilities.
Decoration, Formatting, Invisible: If non-text content is pure decoration, is used only for visual formatting, or is not presented to users, then it is implemented in a way that it can be ignored by assistive technology.

Sufficent Techniques

Sufficient Techniques for 1.1.1 - Non-text Content

Note: Other techniques may also be sufficient if they meet the success criterion.

Situation A: If a short description can serve the same purpose and present the same information as the non-text content:

G94: Providing short text alternative for non-text content that serves the same purpose and presents the same information as the non-text content using one of the following Short text alternative techniques for Situation A :

Short text alternative techniques for Situation A:

Situation B: If a short description can not serve the same purpose and present the same information as the non-text content (e.g., a chart or diagram):

G95: Providing short text alternatives that provide a brief description of the non-text content using one of the following Short text alternative techniques for Situation B AND one of the following Long text alternative techniques for Situation B :

Short text alternative techniques for Situation B:

Long text alternative techniques for Situation B:

Situation C: If non-text content is a control or accepts user input:

G82: Providing a text alternative that identifies the purpose of the non-text content using one of the following Text alternative techniques for controls and input for Situation C :

Text alternative techniques for controls and input for Situation C:

Situation D: If non-text content is time-based media (including live video-only and live audio-only); a test or exercise that would be invalid if presented in text; or primarily intended to create a specific sensory experience:

Providing a descriptive label using one of the following Short text alternative techniques for Situation D :
ARIA6: Using aria-label to provide labels for objects (ARIA)
ARIA10: Using aria-labelledby to provide a text alternative for non-text content (ARIA)
G68: Providing a short text alternative that describes the purpose of live audio-only and live video-only content using one of the following Short text alternative techniques for Situation D :
G100: Providing a short text alternative which is the accepted name or a descriptive name of the non-text content using one of the following Short text alternative techniques for Situation D :

Short text alternative techniques for Situation D:

Situation E: If non-text content is a CAPTCHA:

G143: Providing a text alternative that describes the purpose of the CAPTCHA AND G144: Ensuring that the Web Page contains another CAPTCHA serving the same purpose using a different modality

Situation F: If the non-text content should be ignored by assistive technology:

Implementing or marking the non-text content so that it will be ignored by assistive technology using one of the following Techniques to indicate that text alternatives are not required for Situation F :

Techniques to indicate that text alternatives are not required for Situation F:

Advisory Techniques

Advisory Techniques for 1.1.1 - Non-text Content

General Techniques for Informative Non-Text Content (Advisory)

Identifying informative non-text content (future link)
Keeping short descriptions short (future link)
Describing images that include text (future link)
Providing a longer description of the non-text content where only a descriptive label is required using a technology-specific technique (for an accessibility-supported content technology) for long description listed above (future link)
Providing different sizes for non-text content when it cannot have an equivalent accessible alternative (future link)
Using server-side scripts to resize images of text (future link)

General Techniques for Live Non-Text Content (Advisory)

Linking to textual information that provides comparable information (e.g., for a traffic Webcam, a municipality could provide a link to the text traffic report.) (future link)

General techniques to minimize the barrier of CAPTCHAs

Providing more than two modalities of CAPTCHAs (future link)
Providing access to a human customer service representative who can bypass CAPTCHA (future link)
Not requiring CAPTCHAs for authorized users (future link)

HTML Techniques (Advisory)

H46: Using noembed with embed (HTML)
Writing for browsers that do not support frame (future link)
Providing alternative content for iframe (future link)
Not using long descriptions for iframe (future link)
Providing redundant text links for client-side image maps (future link)

CSS Techniques (Advisory)

C18: Using CSS margin and padding rules instead of spacer images for layout design (CSS)
Using CSS background, :before or :after rules for decorative images instead of img elements (future link)
Displaying empty table cells (future link)

WAI-ARIA Techniques (Advisory)

Using the ARIA presentation role to indicate elements are purely presentational (future link)

Silverlight Techniques (Advisory)

SL19: Providing User Instructions With AutomationProperties.HelpText in Silverlight (Silverlight)

Metadata Techniques (Advisory)

Using metadata to associate text transcriptions with a video (future link)
Using metadata to associate text transcriptions with audio-only content (future link)
- EXAMPLE: Providing, in metadata, URI(s) that points to an audio description and a text transcript of a video.
- EXAMPLE: Providing, in metadata, URI(s) that point to several text transcripts (English, French, Dutch) of an audio file.

Failures

Failures for SC 1.1.1 - Non-text Content

Notes

Useful links

HTML5 techniques for providing alt text

This is not specific to HTML5, but covers good practise in writing alt text for a wide range of situations and content types. Of particular note are the sections on charts, diagrams, maps, and CAPTCHA images.

1.1.1 Non-text content [Level A]