EPUB 3 Accessibility Guidelines

Titles and Descriptions

SVG images that are significant to the publication should always include embedded titles (title) and descriptions (desc) to aid readers using assistive technologies.

The description provided should be commensurate with the information contained in the image: use alt-like descriptions for simple images and longer descriptions for complex ones.

If an SVG image is purely decorative, do not include a title or description. The SVG element should additional be identified as presentational using the ARIA role attribute.

All significant graphical components within the SVG image should contain their own title and/or description to improve the overall accessibility of the image.

Examples

Example 1 — Including an SVG title and description
<svg
     xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"
     xml:lang="en">
   <title>The New EPUB Logo</title>
   <desc>
      The EPUB logo is a lower-case letter E that has 
      been tilted 45 degrees to counter-clockwise so 
      that it appears to be sitting in balance on its 
      lower-left corner. The E is drawn as a single, 
      unclosed line of green starting at the centre 
      of the image, moving to the outer edge and then 
      continuing around in a box-like pattern. The
      external corners have all been rounded.
   </desc>
   …
</svg>
Example 2 — A decorative SVG
<svg
     xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"
     xml:lang="en"
     role="presentation">
   …
</svg>

See also Example 2.2 in the Accessibility Features of SVG W3C Note for an example showing component titles and descriptions.

Compliance References and Standards

Additional Resources