Marcelo Paiva

All criteriaPresent as slides

A woman with glasses and short hair holds a magnifying glass that enlarges one eye, framed pictures behind her.Meant to show: A woman with albinism, pale cropped hair and tinted glasses

Success criterion 1.4.9

Images of Text (No Exception)

Images of text are only used for pure decoration or where a particular presentation of text is essential.

  • Level AAA
  • Principle 1: Perceivable
  • Guideline 1.4: Distinguishable

In a user’s words

“Your fancy headline is a picture. When I zoom in, it turns to mush, and I can't change the font or the colors.”

Who this helps: Low Vision

What each role can do

Product manager
Set a rule: no text in images, except logos.
Designer
Design headings and banners with live text and web fonts.
Developer
Replace image-based text with styled HTML text; keep images of text for logotypes only.
Tester
Zoom to 400% and switch to custom colors; confirm all text stays sharp and restyles.

Once it is fixed

“Real text at last! I zoomed all the way in and every letter stayed crisp.”

The quotes are written to illustrate the criterion. They are not testimonials from real people. For the official wording, find 1.4.9 in the W3C quick reference for WCAG 2.2 (opens in a new tab).

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