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Text alternatives

Image buttons need alternative text

• Rule: input-image-alt
• Severity: Critical
• WCAG level A

Why it matters

<input type="image"> is a submit button drawn as a picture. Without alt the person is asked to submit a form by pressing something with no name.

How to fix it

1. Add alt describing what the button does, not what the picture shows.
2. Match the wording to the action ("Search", not "Magnifying glass").

In markup

<input type="image" src="search.png">

<input type="image" src="search.png" alt="Search">

The requirement behind it

This rule is one way of failing the following WCAG 2.2 success criteria. The W3C, which writes the standard, explains each of them:

• 1.1.1 Non-text Content (opens in new tab) — WCAG level A
• 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value (opens in new tab) — WCAG level A

Further reading

Deque University on input-image-alt (opens in new tab)

Deque maintains axe-core, the open-source engine our scanner runs. Their page documents the rule as the engine implements it.

Automated checks find failures a browser can prove. They cannot judge whether a caption is accurate, whether an alt text is useful, or whether a page can be operated end to end with a keyboard — those need a person.