WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

Title attribute for iframes

for

From: Steve Green
Date: Sep 14, 2020 7:08PM


It is very common for testers and automated tools to report a WCAG non-conformance if an <iframe> element does not have a "title" attribute. However, I cannot find anything in WCAG that requires this. Can anyone point me towards such a requirement?

The Deque axe tool reports the absence of a "title" attribute as a violation of SCs 2.4.1 Bypass Blocks and 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value, both of which are highly improbable. Digging into it, it turns out that axe is referring to https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG21/Techniques/html/H64, which is a technique that can be used in a couple of very specific situations, neither of which is applicable in most cases. Even then the "title" attribute is only a small part of a possible solution, not a requirement.

Furthermore, that page also says "The title attribute is not interchangeable with the name attribute. The title labels the frame for users; the name labels it for scripting and window targeting." Therefore, the absence of a "title" attribute cannot be a non-conformance of SC 4.1.2 (Name, role and value) even if that SC applied to <iframes>, which it does not (it only applies to "user interface components", which are defined as "a part of the content that is perceived by users as a single control for a distinct function").

The only SC I can find that could possibly require the "title" attribute is SC 1.1.1, but that seems to be a very long stretch for me. If all the contents of the <iframe> are fully WCAG conformant, why would the <iframe> need a text alternative? And if it does, why don't other containers such as <form> elements? Or <div>s?

Finally, I should mention that for the purposes of this discussion I am only interested in WCAG conformance, not screen reader behaviours, best practices or anything else.

As always, your thoughts would be very welcome.

Regards,
Steve Green
Managing Director
Test Partners Ltd
020 3002 4176 (direct)
0800 612 2780 (switchboard)
07957 246 276 (mobile)
020 7692 5517 (fax)
Skype: testpartners
<EMAIL REMOVED>
www.testpartners.co.uk
 
Connect to me on LinkedIn - http://uk.linkedin.com/in/stevegreen2