Each container element or graphics element in an SVG drawing can supply a description string using the <desc> element where the description is text-only.
When the current SVG document fragment is rendered as SVG on visual media, <desc> elements are not rendered as part of the graphics. Alternate presentations are possible, both visual and aural, which display the <desc> element but do not display <path> elements or other graphics elements. The <desc> element generally improves accessibility of SVG documents.
Usage context
| Categories | Descriptive element |
|---|---|
| Permitted content | Any elements or character data |
Attributes
Global attributes
Specific attributes
None
DOM Interface
This element implements the SVGDescElement interface.
Specifications
| Specification | Status | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) 2 The definition of '<desc>' in that specification. |
Candidate Recommendation | |
| Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) 1.1 (Second Edition) The definition of '<desc>' in that specification. |
Recommendation | Initial definition |
Browser compatibility
The compatibility table on this page is generated from structured data. If you'd like to contribute to the data, please check out https://github.com/mdn/browser-compat-data and send us a pull request.
| Feature | Chrome | Edge | Firefox | Internet Explorer | Opera | Safari |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic support | 1 | Yes | Yes | 9 | 8 | 3.1 |
| Feature | Android webview | Chrome for Android | Edge mobile | Firefox for Android | Opera Android | iOS Safari | Samsung Internet |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic support | 3 | 1 | Yes | 4 | Yes | 3.1 | ? |