Hiding decorative objects in websites and documents is an important part of universal design for the web. This article will outline what decorative objects are, and why content creators should hide them.
Hiding Decorative Objects in Websites and Documents
One principle of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) requires that web content must be perceivable. In other words, people with a variety of disabilities must be able to perceive web content that is presented audibly or visually, including images. Therefore, most images in a website or document need alt-text or image descriptions. These techniques make images perceivable to people using screen readers or Braille displays.
However, some unimportant images or other visual elements of websites or documents do not need descriptions. For example, unimportant visual elements of a website or document include:
- Borders
- Shading boxes
- Lines
- Shapes
- Logos
These elements are visually appealing but provide no other benefit. Therefore, they are called decorative objects.
Nevertheless, when someone scrolls over these objects with a screen reader, the screen reader perceives them. For instance, the screen reader reads a paragraph, then tries to interpret what the decorative object is, with phrases like:
- Underline underline underline
- Mc-ref
These phrases interrupt the content of the website or document. While decorative objects should remain visually in the background, screen readers draw the viewer’s attention to these objects in distracting ways.
As a result, content creators should hide these objects from screen readers.
Content creators can hide decorative objects in most of the programs they use to develop content. After a content creator inserts a decorative object, there is usually an option in a menu to hide that object from screen readers or other assistive technology. In this way, decorative objects will not interrupt people’s perception of websites or documents.