Introduced as part of HTML5, the figure and figcaption elements are meant to create a meaningful markup structure that:

provides a descriptive label to a piece of content that…

is relevant to the current document, but not vital to its understanding.

To get more specific, let’s look at these elements individually.

The figure element

Often thought of containing images or diagrams, the figure element can host any content (code snippets, quotes, audio, video, etc.) that is referred to from the primary content of the document, but is not redundant information. A figure should be able to be completely removed from the flow of a document without any detriment to the understanding of the primary content.

For example, a document outlining the airspeed velocity of an unladen Swallow may have a section explaining the differences between a South African Swallow vs the European Swallow. Accompanying this content could be a figure showcasing a side by side comparison of these birds, so as to compliment the information the document outlines.

This meta example of a figure and caption works in reference to the content that preceded it. If I didn't include it, all the information up to that point would still have described the purpose of a figure . Image source (2003).

A figure can be used with or without a figcaption . However, without a caption, or an alternate means of providing an accessible name (e.g. aria-label ) a figure may not provide much value in conveying its semantics alone. In some cases, it may not convey any semantics at all if its given no accessible name.

The figcaption element

A figcaption provides a caption, or summary, to the content the figure contains. The figcaption should become the accessible name to the figure element, unless an aria-label or aria-labelledby attribute are used on the figure instead.

The figcaption may be placed before or after the primary contents of the figure , however it must be a direct child of the figure element.

Allowed patterns:

<figure> <figcaption> ... </figcaption> <!-- contents of the figure --> </figure> <figure> <!-- contents of the figure --> <figcaption> ... </figcaption> </figure> <figure> <figcaption> <div> ... </div> </figcaption> <!-- contents of the figure --> </figure>

Not allowed patterns:

<figure> <div> <figcaption> ... </figcaption> </div> <!-- contents of the figure --> </figure> <figure> <!-- contents of the figure --> <div> <figcaption> ... </figcaption> </div> </figure>

A figcaption may contain flow content, which categorizes most elements allowed as children of the body element. But, as the element is meant to provide a caption to the figure ’s contents, brevity and concise descriptive text are typically preferable. The figcaption should not repeat the content of the figure , or other content within the primary document.

A figcaption is not a substitute for alt text

Regarding images used within figures, one of the biggest misunderstandings of using a figcaption is that it’s used in place of image alternative text. Such a practice is outlined in HTML 5.2 as being a last ditch effort to convey meaningful information, but only when images are published without an author being able to provide appropriate alt text.

From the guidance of HTML 5.2:

Such cases are to be kept to an absolute minimum. If there is even the slightest possibility of the author having the ability to provide real alternative text, then it would not be acceptable to omit the alt attribute.

A figcaption is meant to provide a caption or summary to a figure, relating it back to the document the figure is contained within, or conveying additional information that may not be directly apparent from reviewing the figure itself.

If an image is given an empty alt , then the figcaption is in effect describing nothing. And that doesn’t make much sense, does it?

To put it another way, let’s look at a figure that contains a Sass code snippet:

<figure> <pre><code> $align-list: center, left, right; @each $align in $align-list { .txt-#{$align} { text-align: $align; } } </code></pre> <figcaption> This use of Sass's @each control directive will compile to three CSS classes; .txt-center, .txt-left, and .txt-right. </figcaption> </figure>

In comparison to images with empty alt s within figures, it’d be like putting an aria-hidden="true" on the code snippet. Doing so would remove the ability for screen readers and other assistive technology to parse the content the caption refers to. However, it’s unfortunately a reflection of what commonly happens with images in figures.

“But shouldn’t it be obvious that the caption is meant to be the alt text for the image?”, you may think. There are two issues with that assumption:

First, what image? When an image has an empty alt it won’t be announced, nor will it be discoverable when navigating with a screen reader. If an alt was left off the image, some screen readers would announce the file name of the image, but not all (screen readers, like JAWS, have settings to adjust this behavior. but the default behavior is for images like these to be ignored).

Second, an alt is meant to convey the important information an image represents. A figcaption should provide context to relate the figure (image) back to the primary document, or to call out a particular piece of information to pay attention to. If a figcaption takes the place of an alt , then this creates duplicate information for sighted users.

There are other issues with incorrect use of a figcaption in place of an image alt . But to identify those issues, we need to understand how screen readers parse figure s.

figure s and screen readers

Now that we have an idea of how figures and their captions should be used, how do these elements get exposed to screen readers?

Ideally a figure should announce its role and the content of the figcaption as its accessible name. A person should then be able to navigate into the figure and interact with the contents of the figure and figcaption independently. For browsers that don’t fully support figure s, like Internet Explorer 11, ARIA’s role="figure" and an aria-label can be used to help increase the likelihood the markup will be recognized by certain screen readers.

Here is a roundup of how tested screen readers, with default settings, expose this information (or don’t) in different browsers:

JAWS 18, 2018, and 2019

JAWS has the best support for announcing native figures and their captions, though support is not perfect or consistent depending on the browser and JAWS’s verbosity settings.

IE11 requires the use of role="figure" and an aria-label or aria-labelledby pointing to the figcaption to mimic native announcements. It’s not surprising that IE11 doesn’t support the native element, as HTML5 Accessibility’s IE11 browser rating will never improve. But at least ARIA can provide the semantics.

Edge won’t announce the presence of a figure role at all, regardless if ARIA is used or not. This will likely change once Edge switches over to Chromium.

Chrome and Firefox offer similar support, however JAWS (with default verbosity settings) + Chrome will completely ignore a figure (including the content of its figcaption ) if an image has an empty alt or is lacking an alt attribute.

This means that those captions that accompany images in various Medium articles, those are all completely ignored by JAWS paired with Chrome. If JAWS settings are updated to announce all images (e.g. images where an alt attribute or value is not provided) then JAWS should announce these figure captions with Chrome.

Unlike with Chrome, JAWS paired with Firefox will still announce the figure and figcaption if an image has an empty or missing alt , but as the image will be completely ignored, the person using the screen reader will just have to infer that the primary content of the figure was an image.

NVDA

Testing NVDA version 2018.4.1 with IE11, Edge, Firefox 64.0.2 and Chrome 71, there was no trace of figures. The closest indication that something might be there was NVDA + IE11 announcing “edit” prior to the announcement of an image or contents of a figcaption (not that “edit” made any sense though…). Testing patterns with role="figure" did not change the lack of announcements. The contents of figures are still accessible, but no relationship of content and caption will be conveyed.

VoiceOver (macOS)

Testing was performed with Safari (12.0.2) and Chrome (71.0.3578.98) on macOS 10.14.2, with VoiceOver 9.

Safari

When testing with Safari, a figure will have it’s role announced. A figure ’s role will not be announced if it has no accessible name (e.g. no figcaption , aria-label , etc.).

VoiceOver can navigate into the figure and interact with the primary content of the figure and figcaption individually.

Chrome

Though Chrome’s accessibility inspector notes that the semantics of the figure is being revealed, and that the accessible name is provided by its caption, VoiceOver does not locate or announce the presence of the figure as it does with Safari. That is unless the figure specifically has an aria-label . Using an aria-describedby or aria-labelledby on the figure to point to the figcaption does not expose the figure to VoiceOver. To properly convey figures to VoiceOver, with Chrome, the following markup would be necessary:

<!-- aria-label would need to repeat the content of the figcaption to announce the figure as expected. --> <figure aria-label= "Figcaption content here." > <!-- figure content --> <figcaption> Figcaption content here. </figcaption> </figure>

Adding a role="figure" to the figure element, or another element in place of a <figure> , will still require an aria-label to make the role discoverable to VoiceOver with Chrome.

VoiceOver (iOS 12.1.2)

Testing both Safari and Chrome with VoiceOver, there is no announcement of figures, or a relationship of the figure’s content to its caption. Both <figure> and role="figure" patterns yielded the same results.

TalkBack (7.2 on Android 8.1)

Testing both Chrome (70) and Firefox (63.0.2), there is no announcement of figures, or a relationship of the figure’s content to its caption. Both <figure> and role="figure" patterns yielded the same results.

Narrator & Edge 42 / EdgeHTML 17

Narrator does not announce a figure role at all. However, the native element and role="figure" do have an effect on the manner in which a figure’s content is announced. When a figure has an accessible name, the contents of the figure (e.g. an image’s alt text) and the accessible name of the figure ( figcaption content or aria-label ) will be announced together. If an image has an empty alt , a figure and its figcaption will be completely ignored.

Wrapping up

Based on the intended use cases for figures and their captions, as well as the current screen reader support for these elements, the following markup pattern should be considered if you want to ensure the semantics are conveyed to as wide of an audience as possible:

<figure role= "figure" aria-label= "repeat figcaption content here" > <!-- figure content. if an image, provide alt text --> <figcaption> Caption for the figure. </figcaption> </figure> <!-- aria-label for macOS VoiceOver + Chrome role="figure" for IE11. IE11 needs an accessible name (provided by aria-label). If not for the fact VO + Chrome doesn't support an accessible name from aria-labelledby, that attribute would have been preferred / pointed to an ID on the <figcaption>. -->

This pattern will ensure that the following pairings will announce the figure role and its caption:

JAWS with Chrome, Firefox and IE11.

macOS VoiceOver with Safari and Chrome.

Edge & narrator will create a relationship, but won’t announce the figure role.

Presently, mobile screen readers won’t announce figures, nor Edge unless paired with Narrator (sort of), or any browser paired with NVDA. But don’t let these gaps deter you from using the elements as intended by their specifications.

With Edge changing over to Chromium, better support will likely become a reality in the near future. And while NVDA and mobile screen readers don’t announce the semantics, the content remains accessible. Filing bugs is the best we can do for now to usher change for these gaps.

Thank you to Steve Faulkner for reviewing my tests and this article.

Further reading