WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

Re: using .svg images accessibly

for

From: Sandy Feldman
Date: Aug 9, 2017 10:56AM

Léonie,

Thanks again for taking the time to help me work this through. I have a
new version of the page, modified as you suggested.

http://haltontrophies.com/svg/

This one actually validates using validator.w3.org! What do you think of
it? Is it actually working? Could it be better?

Each svg on this page has two titles. One is in the link, the other is
an ARIA label. I think that VoiceOver is just reading the one on the
link. I would like to take the other out, to reduce the redundancy in
the markup. Is that a good idea?

I did also try using svg images, but I couldn't find a good resource for
how to embed and style them. Any suggestions?

Thanks, all, for being out there to call on.

Sandy




On 2017-08-04 11:03 AM, Léonie Watson wrote:
> On 03/08/2017 16:20, Sandy Feldman wrote:
>> What do you think?
>> http://haltontrophies.com/svg/
>
> These links work with screen readers, but probably not for the reasons
> you think.
>
> The accessible name (link text) for the link is being provided by the
> title attribute on the <a> element, not the <title> element in the
> SVG. If you remove the title attribute the links stop working properly
> with some screen reader/browser combinations.
>
> The reason is that you're using the <use> element in the SVG, with all
> the accessibility applied to the original definition of the icon. When
> you use the <use> element to duplicate the original, the accessibility
> isn't reliably inherited.
>
> A related problem is that the title attribute can cause problems when
> it's used on links. More on this here:
> https://www.paciellogroup.com/blog/2013/01/using-the-html-title-attribute-updated/
>
>
> You have a number of options...
>
> 1. Use the aria-label attribute instead of the title attribute.
>
> This will provide an accessible name for the link that screen readers
> can access, without the problems caused by the title attribute for
> other AT users:
>
> <a href="..." aria-label="Find me on YouTube">
>
> 2. Use the <title> element inside the <use> element.
>
> You'd need to do this every time you used the icon. Something like this:
>
> <a class="youtube" href="https://www.youtube.com/".
> <svg class="socialIcon">
> <use aria-labelledby="youtube-title" xlink:href="#icon-youtube">
> <title id="youtube-title">Find me on YouTube</title>
> </use>
> </svg>
> </a>
>
> 3. Use an <img> element.
>
> The icons are just simple static images, so you could save each one in
> its own .svg file and use it like you would any other image format:
>
> <img src="youtube-icon.svg" alt="Find me on YouTube">
>
> You'll still get the flexibility/scalability of the SVG, but with the
> simple accessibility of the <img> element.
>
> HTH
> Léonie.
>

--
Sandy

sandyfeldman.com
sandyfeldman.tumblr.com/
ca.linkedin.com/in/sandyfeldman
inclusivemedia.ca