RE: 1.1.1, Text Alternative, Title Attribute OK?

1. my recollection from testing hybrid apps  - maybe someone can confirm? Not the interaction, but the computation as accessible name/description.
2. so images with an accessible name which is not a title attribute are somehow inaccessible? Not sure of the value of your proposed comparison 
3. true, but some people think this is important
4. check other UA/platform combinations ...  

So why has using the title attribute on images NEVER been a sufficient technique for short or long descriptions for images?

Simple: It's an ever-present ghost from the days of Internet Explorer 4 in the late nineties which has been a headache for the accessibility community ever since ... it's in the computation algorithm, it's not in the algorithm, it's a last resort, it's a legitimate accessible description, it makes things more accessible ... and so on. 

A bit like the placeholder attribute which is another browser implementation from Apple.

Who cares whether it fails a 20 year old specification - there are plenty of better ways of implementing text alternatives for graphical content in my view.




-----Original Message-----
From: Patrick H. Lauke <redux@splintered.co.uk> 
Sent: Tuesday, February 24, 2026 11:49 AM
To: w3c-wai-ig@w3.org
Subject: Re: 1.1.1, Text Alternative, Title Attribute OK?

>  1. Accessible name may not be present on devices that don’t support
>     hover (e.g., mobile devices)

Accessible name is computed regardless of interaction. What you're really saying is "it won't be displayed on devices that don't support hover" which is a separate discussion, unrelated to 1.1.1.

>  2. The tooltip is only available to people using a pointing device

Compare this to alt text which is not available to people who don't use screen readers (or have images turned off in their browser). Again, not directly related to the 1.1.1 discussion.

>  3. Using a title attribute for an accessible name may fail automated
>     checking applications because they’re looking for conventional 
> methods

Evidence that automated checkers are naive in many cases.

>  4. the title attribute is not suitable for text alternatives more than
>     about ten words because it cannot be navigated using cursor keys

Just from testing with Chrome/NVDA, the title can be navigated the same way as an alt attribute.

--
Patrick H. Lauke

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Received on Tuesday, 24 February 2026 03:06:25 UTC