Perceivable / 1.4 Distinguishable
1.4.5Images of Text
Level AAPresent text as real text rather than an image of text wherever the technology allows it. Exceptions apply when the image is user-customizable (font, size, color) or when the exact visual presentation is essential, such as a logo. Real text supports resizing, recoloring, and screen readers far better than a picture of text.
Note
A detailed commentary for this success criterion is not yet available. In the meantime, this page lists related patterns, techniques, and links to the normative sources.
Related Techniques
Specific implementation techniques for meeting this success criterion. This site doesn't include the full text, so follow the links to the original W3C documents.
Sufficient Techniques(4)
- C22: Using CSS to control visual presentation of text(opens in a new tab)waic.jp(opens in a new tab)
- C30: Using CSS to replace text with images of text and providing user interface controls to switch(opens in a new tab)waic.jp(opens in a new tab)
- G140: Separating information and structure from presentation to enable different presentations(opens in a new tab)waic.jp(opens in a new tab)
- PDF7: Performing OCR on a scanned PDF document to provide actual text(opens in a new tab)waic.jp(opens in a new tab)
Advisory Techniques(5)
- C6: Positioning content based on structural markup(opens in a new tab)waic.jp(opens in a new tab)
- C8: Using CSS letter-spacing to control spacing within a word(opens in a new tab)waic.jp(opens in a new tab)
- C12: Using percent for font sizes(opens in a new tab)waic.jp(opens in a new tab)
- C13: Using named font sizes(opens in a new tab)waic.jp(opens in a new tab)
- C14: Using em units for font sizes(opens in a new tab)waic.jp(opens in a new tab)
Normative References
- Success Criterion 1.4.5 Images of Text — WCAG 2.2(opens in a new tab)The normative requirement text.
- Understanding Images of Text — W3C(opens in a new tab)Official guidance on intent, examples, and techniques.