HTMLAreaElement: alt property

Baseline Widely available

This feature is well established and works across many devices and browser versions. It’s been available across browsers since July 2015.

The alt property of the HTMLAreaElement interface specifies the text of the hyperlink, defining the textual label for an image map's link. It reflects the <area> element's alt attribute.

The alt value must be text that, when presented with the alt text of the other <area> hyperlinks within the same <map>, along with the alt text of the <img> itself, provides the user with the same kind of choice as the hyperlink would when used without its text but with its shape applied to the image.

If the <area> is a link (contains an href property), the alt property value should be a non-empty string giving the label for the link that would be appropriate if the image were unavailable. The alt attribute for a link <area> can only be empty if there is another <area> element in the same <map> that points to the same resource and has a non-blank alt attribute.

Value

A string.

Examples

js
const areaElement = document.getElementById("imageArea");
console.log(areaElement.alt);
areaElement.alt = "A much better link description";

Specifications

Specification
HTML
# dom-area-alt

Browser compatibility

desktop mobile
Chrome
Edge
Firefox
Opera
Safari
Chrome Android
Firefox for Android
Opera Android
Safari on iOS
Samsung Internet
WebView Android
WebView on iOS
alt
Chrome – Full support
Chrome 1 (Release date: 2008-12-11)
footnote Full support
Edge – Full support
Edge 12 (Release date: 2015-07-29)
footnote Full support
Firefox – Full support
Firefox 1 (Release date: 2004-11-09)
footnote Full support
Opera – Full support
Opera 12.1 (Release date: 2012-11-20)
footnote Full support
Safari – Full support
Safari 1 (Release date: 2003-06-23)
footnote Full support
Chrome Android – Full support
Chrome Android 18 (Release date: 2012-06-27)
footnote Full support
Firefox for Android – Full support
Firefox for Android 4 (Release date: 2011-03-29)
footnote Full support
Opera Android – Full support
Opera Android 12.1 (Release date: 2012-10-09)
footnote Full support
Safari on iOS – Full support
Safari on iOS 1 (Release date: 2007-06-29)
footnote Full support
Samsung Internet – Full support
Samsung Internet 1 (Release date: 2013-04-27)
footnote Full support
WebView Android – Full support
WebView Android 4.4 (Release date: 2013-12-09)
footnote Full support
WebView on iOS – Full support
WebView on iOS 1 (Release date: 2007-06-29)
footnote Full support

Legend

Tip: you can click/tap on a cell for more information.

Full support
Full support

See also