# Use title attributes

DevFeed: [Use title attributes](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/use-title-attributes-9417.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://a11yproject.com/posts/title-attributes/>)

Author: Dave Rupert

Published: 2013-04-22T00:00:00Z

Content type: article

Language: en

Sources: [The A11Y Project](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/the-a11y-project.md>)

Topics: [Accessibility](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/accessibility.md>), [HTML](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/html.md>), [aria](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/aria.md>), [Search engine optimization (SEO)](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/seo.md>)

Tags: [accessibility](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/accessibility.md>), [aria](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/aria.md>), [html](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/html.md>), [seo](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/seo.md>)

## AI overview

This article recommends avoiding HTML title attributes except in limited cases, because their content can be redundant or unavailable to screen reader users while being hidden from many other users. It explains appropriate uses, the precedence of aria-labelledby, aria-label, alt, and title for text alternatives, and recommends using alt as the reliable image alternative while keeping title equal to alt when both are present.

## Source excerpt

Short answer: Don't use them, except in special circumstances. HTML title attributes are often perceived as an accessibility (and SEO) bonus, but the opposite is true. For screen reader users the content included inside of the title attribute is typically unnecessary, redundant, and possibly not even used. Conversely, content being put in the title attribute is being hidden from the (probable) majority of your users. If information is being hidden from the majority of your users, then it's likely not necessary. There are a few times when using a title attribute is appropriate: For <frame> and <iframe> elements For providing a label when a text label would be redundant If you must use title on images, keep it the same as the alt. Based on the intended behavior for Text Alternative Computation the precedence for calculating a text alternative should be: aria-labelledby aria-label alt title In cases where two or more of the above are used, whatever is highest in that list becomes what gets used. Consider the following example: <img src="/path/to/image.png" alt="" title="some stuff that could be useful" /> In this case, the alt actually becomes the alternative, because it is higher in precedence. So even though the title has useful content, it doesn't get used because the alt is there. For a universally reliable text alternative for images, the alt attribute should be the the preferred method. In cases where a title attribute is provided, it should have the same value as the alt. The long story short? Serve all users equal content.