Skip to content
EPUBCheck · Accessibility

EPUBCheck ACC-011: SVG link without a name

Updated:

EPUBCheck ACC-011 is a usage message: “SVG hyperlink has no accessible name.” A link inside SVG has no accessible name, so screen readers cannot announce where it goes. It is a usage note shown with -u, and it matters for books that claim accessibility conformance.

The official message

SVG hyperlink has no accessible name

Default severity
Usage. Informative only and hidden by default: it appears when EPUBCheck runs with -u (--usage). It does not make the EPUB invalid.
EPUBCheck version
5.4.0

Typical causes

  • SVG a elements that wrap only shapes or images.
  • Image maps converted to SVG links without labels.

How to fix it

  1. Add a title element as the first child of the link, or an aria-label attribute on it, with a short description of the target.
  2. Use the same wording a sighted reader would see, for example the chapter name the shape links to.
  3. Rebuild the EPUB and run EPUBCheck again to confirm the message is gone.

When it's not this

If the missing alternative is on a MathML equation, the note is ACC-009.

Terms used here

Other ACC messages

  • ACC-009 MathML should either have an "alttext" attribute or "annotation-xml" child element.

Sources

Message text and severity from EPUBCheck 5.4.0 (W3C, BSD-3-Clause). Explanation by EpubCC.

FAQ

What does EPUBCheck ACC-011 mean?

EPUBCheck ACC-011 is a usage message: “SVG hyperlink has no accessible name.” A link inside SVG has no accessible name, so screen readers cannot announce where it goes. It is a usage note shown with -u, and it matters for books that claim accessibility conformance.

Is ACC-011 an error?

ACC-011 is reported as usage by default. Informative only and hidden by default: it appears when EPUBCheck runs with -u (--usage). It does not make the EPUB invalid.