Use external SVG spritemaps today. SVG for Everybody minds the gap between SVG-capable browsers and those which do not support [external SVG spritemaps](http://css-tricks.com/svg-sprites-use-better-icon-fonts/##Browser Support).
To use svg4everybody, add it in the <head> of your document.
<script src="/path/to/svg4everybody.ie8.min.js"></script>Only IE6-8 require the script run this early, in order to shiv the svg and use elements.
If running the standard script in IE9-11, be sure to set X-UA-Compatible higher than IE8. This can be done with a response header or the following <meta> tag.
<meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=Edge">spritemap.svg:
<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg">
<symbol id="codepen" viewBox="0 0 64 64"><title>CodePen</title><path etc.../></symbol>
<symbol id="youtube" viewBox="0 0 64 64"><title>YouTube</title><path etc.../></symbol>
<symbol id="twitter" viewBox="0 0 64 64"><title>Twitter</title><path etc.../></symbol>
</svg>The preceding spritemap may be referenced without assistance in Chrome, Firefox, and Opera. This script polyfills the experience in IE9-11.
<svg role="img" title="CodePen"><use xlink:href="spritemap.svg#codepen"></use></svg>
<svg role="img" title="YouTube"><use xlink:href="spritemap.svg#youtube"></use></svg>
<svg role="img" title="Twitter"><use xlink:href="spritemap.svg#twitter"></use></svg>
In IE6-8, the document markup is modified to fallback to PNG images.
<svg role="img" title="CodePen"><img src="spritemap.svg.codepen.png"></svg>
<svg role="img" title="YouTube"><img src="spritemap.svg.youtube.png"></svg>
<svg role="img" title="Twitter"><img src="spritemap.svg.twitter.png"></svg>Fallback PNGs point to the same location as their corresponding SVGs, only with the # hash replaced by a . dot, and with an appended .png extension.
Within your spritemap, each sprite may use a <title> element to identify itself.
<symbol id="codepen"><title>CodePen</title><path etc.../></symbol>When this sprite is used, its title will be read aloud in JAWS and NVDA. Then, within your document, each sprite may use a title attribute to identify itself.
<svg title="CodePen"><use xlink:href="spritemap.svg#codepen"></use></svg>This title will be read aloud in VoiceOver and NVDA. At present, the title attribute is the only way to properly read aloud an SVG in VoiceOver.
For maximum compatibility, both the title attribute in the document and the title element in the SVG should be used.
ARIA roles may be used to provide even more accessibility. role="presentation" should be used when a sprite decorates other content.
<a href="//twitter.com/jon_neal"><svg role="presentation"><use xlink:href="sprite.svg#twitter"></svg> Find me on Twitter</a>Alternatively, role="img" should be used when a sprite necessitates its own description.
<a href="//twitter.com/jon_neal"><svg title="Find me on Twitter" role="img"><use xlink:href="sprite.svg#twitter"></svg></a>SVG files, especially exported from various editors, usually contains a lot of redundant and useless information such as editor metadata, comments, hidden elements, default or non-optimal values and other stuff that can be safely removed or converted without affecting SVG rendering result.
Use a tool like SVGO to optimize SVG spritemaps.
$ [sudo] npm install -g svgo
$ svgo spritemap.svgThe standard script is 1.51KB or 559B minified + gzipped. The IE6-8 compatible script (which also works for IE9+) is 1.86KB or 642B minified + gzipped.