WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.1.1, Non-text Content, is a Level A requirement: images have a text alternative. It’s among the most common failures on the web: WebAIM found detectable WCAG failures on 95.9% of the top million home pages, and this criterion covers one of the six failure types they found most often (WebAIM Million, 2026 (opens in a new tab)).
Read the criterion in the W3C Recommendation, WCAG 2.2 (opens in a new tab).
How BearScan checks it
Images have a text alternative
Checked automatically: reads the HTML. Severity: high. A missing alternative is the most common way a screen-reader user loses a page's content outright.
An approximation: Fails an image with no alternative. For the rest, the 16 largest distinct images of a rendered page are cut out of a screenshot and a vision model reads each against its alt text: it fails alt text that does not convey the picture, and an empty alt on a picture that carries information, only when the model is at least 85% sure, and asks for review between that and a clear match. Smaller images beyond those 16 are not compared, and an image drawn by CSS is read without an alt attribute to compare. A page whose images could not be read is reported incomplete, never passed.
How to fix it. Add an alt attribute to every image. Use alt="" only when the image is purely decorative and conveys nothing; never omit the attribute.
All WCAG 2.2 criteria · Next: 1.2.1 Audio-only and Video-only (Prerecorded)
Questions
Is WCAG 1.1.1 required by the ADA?
The ADA doesn't name a technical standard for businesses, but the Justice Department's 2022 guidance points businesses to WCAG, and its 2024 rule for state and local governments adopted WCAG 2.1 Level AA, which includes 1.1.1.
Can an automated tool check WCAG 1.1.1?
Mostly. BearScan checks it automatically (reads the HTML). A clean result still isn't proof every page passes, only the pages scanned.
How do I fix a WCAG 1.1.1 failure?
Add an alt attribute to every image. Use alt="" only when the image is purely decorative and conveys nothing; never omit the attribute.