Alt tag possible for inline SVG?

Question

Is there a way to give an inline SVG an alt tag? Here is the code that I have for my inline SVG, but the alt tag is not showing (and I'm not even sure the way that I coded the alt tag is valid, after searching online for clarification):

<svg version="1.1" id="svg-header-filter" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" x="0px" y="0px" width="27px" height="27px" viewBox="0 0 37 37" enable-background="new 0 0 37 37" xml:space="preserve" alt="Hello world!">
    <path class="header-filter-circle" d="M17.796,0C7.947,0,0,7.988,0,17.838s7.947,17.787,17.796,17.787c9.848,0,17.829-7.935,17.829-17.783 C35.625,7.988,27.644,0,17.796,0z"/>
    <g>
    <path class="header-filter-icon" fill="#FFFFFF" d="M15.062,30.263v-9.935l-8.607-8.703h22.343l-8.744,8.727v5.029L15.062,30.263z M8.755,12.625l7.291,7.389 v7.898l3.025-2.788v-5.086l7.426-7.413H8.755z"/>
    </g>
</svg>

And here is the JSFiddle: http://jsfiddle.net/FsCMM

Answer 1

You should use title element, not alt tag, to display tooltips:

<svg version="1.1" id="svg-header-filter" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" x="0px" y="0px" width="27px" height="27px" viewBox="0 0 37 37" enable-background="new 0 0 37 37" xml:space="preserve">
    <title>Hello world!</title>
    <path class="header-filter-circle" d="M17.796,0C7.947,0,0,7.988,0,17.838s7.947,17.787,17.796,17.787c9.848,0,17.829-7.935,17.829-17.783 C35.625,7.988,27.644,0,17.796,0z"/>
    <g>
        <path class="header-filter-icon" fill="#FFFFFF" d="M15.062,30.263v-9.935l-8.607-8.703h22.343l-8.744,8.727v5.029L15.062,30.263z M8.755,12.625l7.291,7.389 v7.898l3.025-2.788v-5.086l7.426-7.413H8.755z"/>
    </g>
</svg>

---

for chrome34: wrap graphics by g element and insert title element to this.

<svg version="1.1" id="svg-header-filter" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" x="0px" y="0px" width="27px" height="27px" viewBox="0 0 37 37" enable-background="new 0 0 37 37" xml:space="preserve">
<g>
    <title>Hello world!</title>
    <path class="header-filter-circle" d="M17.796,0C7.947,0,0,7.988,0,17.838s7.947,17.787,17.796,17.787c9.848,0,17.829-7.935,17.829-17.783 C35.625,7.988,27.644,0,17.796,0z"/>
    <g>
        <path class="header-filter-icon" fill="#FFFFFF" d="M15.062,30.263v-9.935l-8.607-8.703h22.343l-8.744,8.727v5.029L15.062,30.263z M8.755,12.625l7.291,7.389 v7.898l3.025-2.788v-5.086l7.426-7.413H8.755z"/>
    </g>
</g>
</svg>

Answer 2

With <title> it works nice, the below example shows title (acts like alt for images) for more than one path:

<svg height="200pt" viewBox="0 0 200 200" width="200pt" style="background-color: var(--background);">
    <g>
        <title>Gray path</title>
        <path fill="none" stroke="gray" stroke-width="20" d="M 179.89754857473488 95.95256479386293 A 80 80 0 0 0 100 20">
        </path>
    </g>
    <g>
        <title>Red path</title>
        <path fill="none" stroke="red" stroke-width="20" d="M 91.90160519334194 179.58904448198567 A 80 80 0 0 0 179.89754857473488 95.95256479386293">
        </path>
    </g>
    <g>
        <title>Blue path</title>
        <path fill="none" stroke="blue" stroke-width="20" d="M 32.111795102681654 57.67752800438377 A 80 80 0 0 0 91.90160519334194 179.58904448198567">
        </path>
    </g>
    <g>
        <title>Green path</title>
        <path fill="none" stroke="green" stroke-width="20" d="M 99.99999999999999 20 A 80 80 0 0 0 32.111795102681654 57.67752800438377">
        </path>
    </g>
</svg>