Alt text relies on color

Image alt text must describe any meaning conveyed by color in the image


Image alt text relies on color:

In this example, an image shows a bar chart with sales figures for employees. Bars shown in red indicate performance below quota. The alt text refers to the red bars, but does not explain which employees were below quota. This violates WCAG 1.1.1 and 1.4.1.


The bar chart displays the yearly sales figures for the Sales Department. Mary sold 3.1 Million; Fred, 2.6 Million; Bob, 2.2 Million; and Andrew, 3.4 Million. The red bars indicate sales that were below the yearly quota.

Note: Impossible to automatically test or detect. Requires human or AI review to evaluate whether color-dependent meaning in images is adequately conveyed in the alt text.

axe detected: none  |  QualWeb detected: none