ACT Rule 8fc3b6
Object element rendering non-text content has non-empty accessible name
The object element embeds something the page did not write itself, an image, a video, a PDF viewer, an old plugin. This rule checks that each object rendering that kind of content carries a name.
A tool can decide this one on its own, which is why it turns up in scanner output. The rule is approved, which in W3C's process means it was implemented in full by at least one tool or methodology and then signed off by a working group. Approval is a statement about tools, not a statement that this is the settled way to test the criterion.
What passing this rule proves
When this rule fails, 1.1.1 Non-text Content is not satisfied, and that half is certain. When it passes, W3C's own outcome mapping says the criterion still needs further testing. So a green result here is evidence that one specific thing is not broken, and it is the answer W3C gives on 59 of its 87 live rules.
W3C says on the rule page that whether the name describes the purpose of the object is not tested here and has to be checked separately. Screen readers also disagree about object elements, and some skip them entirely. So open the page in one. Find out whether the embedded thing gets announced at all.
The criteria this rule is a test for
These are the criteria the rule names as its own conformance requirement. Each one is a far bigger question than this rule asks, and our page for it sets out what the whole criterion covers.
- 1.1.1 Non-text Content Level A
The normative rule text lives at W3C
What the rule applies to, and exactly what it expects, is published by W3C and can change. We link to it rather than restate it, so nothing here can quietly fall out of date against the source. Read rule 8fc3b6 at W3C.
Every control needs a name that assistive technology can read
Every control has a name that assistive technology reads out. It is not always the text you see. The browser works it out in a fixed order. An aria-labelledby reference wins first, then aria-label, then the element's own content or its associated label, then a title attribute as a last resort.
A screen reader user moving through a page by control hears these names and nothing else. If the name is empty, they hear only the role. A button with no name is a button with no idea what it does.
Icon-only buttons are the common case. The icon carries the meaning visually and leaves nothing behind for the name. The control announces as just a button with no function described.
Fixes that satisfy it
If this rule fails on your site, these are the techniques that put it right.
Other rules W3C files under the same criteria
Each of these asks a different question about the same part of the standard. Passing all of them is still not the same as satisfying the criterion.
- Element marked as decorative is not exposed A tool can check this
- Image accessible name is descriptive A tool finds candidates, you decide
- Image button has non-empty accessible name A tool can check this
- Image has non-empty accessible name A tool can check this
- Link has non-empty accessible name A tool can check this
- SVG element with explicit role has non-empty accessible name A tool can check this
All 87 ACT rules are grouped by the criteria they test, and 24 of them decide nothing about WCAG on their own. Run a free scan to see which of these your own pages trip.