Before we dive into the specifics of an 'alt-text' option, it's important to understand what BIMI is. BIMI, which stands for Brand Indicators for Message Identification, is an email specification that enables the display of brand logos directly in customer inboxes. As Flowium explains, it uses established authentication standards like DMARC, SPF, and DKIM to verify that the sender is legitimate. When these checks pass, the email client can fetch and display the brand's official logo, which is specified in a DNS record.
The primary goal is to increase trust and brand recognition, making it easier for recipients to identify legitimate messages at a glance.
Understanding 'alt-text' and its role in accessibility
Now, let's talk about 'alt-text'. The term is short for alternative text. In the context of the web and email, it's a piece of text that describes an image. Its main purpose is to improve accessibility for people who use screen readers, such as those who are visually impaired. If a user cannot see an image, the screen reader will read the alt-text aloud, providing them with the context of what the image portrays.
This is crucial for an inclusive digital experience. As Blind Girl Adventures points out, this is the primary reason for its existence. Alt-text also serves a secondary function: it's what displays in place of an image if the image file fails to load for any reason.
Does BIMI have an 'alt-text' option?
This brings us to the core of the question. The short answer is no, the BIMI specification does not include a specific field or option for 'alt-text' within the DNS record itself. A standard BIMI record is quite simple and looks something like this:
v=BIMI1; l=https://yourbrand.com/logo.svg;
The record simply verifies the version (v=BIMI1) and points to the location of the logo file (l=...). There is no tag for an alternative text description.
The responsibility for making the BIMI logo accessible falls to the email client (like Gmail, Apple Mail, or Yahoo) that displays it. The BIMI record provides the asset, but the client controls how that asset is rendered in its user interface. In practice, a screen reader would likely announce the sender's brand name (from the 'From' field of the email) when it encounters the BIMI logo, effectively serving the same purpose as alt-text.
What BIMI does offer: selectors for alternative logos
While BIMI doesn't have an alt-text option, it does have a feature that is sometimes confused with it: selectors. A BIMI selector allows a single domain to publish multiple, different logos. This is not for providing descriptive text, but for providing an entirely different logo image based on the selector used.
This functionality is useful for several reasons. A brand might want to:
- Use different logos for various sub-brands, products, or departments under the same domain.
- Display special logos for seasonal events, holidays, or specific marketing campaigns.
- A/B test logo variations to see which one resonates best with their audience.
To use this, a sender would add a selector to their email headers and create a corresponding DNS record, such as campaign2024._bimi.yourbrand.com.
The takeaway on BIMI and accessibility
To summarize, the BIMI standard itself does not have an 'alt-text' option. The concept of alt-text is fundamental to web and email accessibility, but its implementation for the BIMI logo is handled by the email client, not defined in the sender's DNS record. Instead of an alt-text field, BIMI offers 'selectors' to enable the use of alternative logos for different purposes. For senders, the best way to ensure a good experience for all users is to focus on having a clear, recognizable brand name and a high-quality logo, trusting the email clients to handle the final presentation in an accessible way.
