• Success Criterion 1.2.3
  • Conformance level A

No Audio Description or Text Alternative for a Visual Video

1.2.3 — Audio Description or Media Alternative (Prerecorded)

Scenario

Setting

A public library's catalog search

What’s wrong

A product walkthrough video shows on-screen diagrams, gestures, and UI changes that are never spoken aloud, and no audio-description track or text alternative covers them.

Example 

<video src="/help/advanced-search-walkthrough.mp4" controls></video>
<!-- Narration only says "Now let's narrow down the results," while the
     video silently shows checking three specific filter checkboxes -->

Why it matters

A blind patron listening to the walkthrough hears "now let's narrow down the results" but never learns which three filters were actually checked to do it.

How to test

Play the video and note anything shown but not said (on-screen text, diagrams, actions): if there's no audio description or full text alternative covering it, it fails.

How to fix

Any silent on-screen action that changes the outcome needs to be spoken, either in the main narration or in an added description track.

<video src="/help/advanced-search-walkthrough.mp4" controls>
  <track kind="descriptions" src="/help/advanced-search-ad.vtt" srclang="en" label="Audio description">
</video>
<!-- Added cue: "Checks the boxes for 'Available now,' 'Large print,'
     and 'Audiobook.'" -->

Outcome

A blind patron hears exactly which filters to check and finds the large-print audiobooks they wanted.

Who is affected

Blind and low-vision patrons relying on the audio track alone miss every visual-only action, since nothing describes which checkboxes or menu items were selected.

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