Accessibility: Links
Title Text on Links
When you add a link to your content you will want to make sure you fill in the Title field so that specific information is able to be accessed by users of assistive technology.
Your Title Text should Include:
- The destination of the link
- The name of the link/page the >user is going to
- If the user is being taken to a new tab or window
- Links should never be taking a user to a new page or window but in the rare cases this is required you must disclose that information to the user.
Your Title Text Shouldn’t Include:
- Do not include link to, link, etc. at the beginning of the Title Link text
- This will already be announced to the user by their >assistive technology
Good Examples of Link Titles
- Homepage of the Athletics website
- Instruction on How to make a Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich on the pbs website
- UVA workday website – will open in new tab
How to Create Well Formed Links
Links should be specific and easily identifiable when scanning through the page. This helps with users of assistive technology navigate your page faster by pulling up all the links on your page.
Good Examples of Well-Formed Links
- UVA Report a Barrier Form
- The Life-Saving Power of Gene Therapy
- 2023 Academic Registration Forms
User Impact
If all of your links say, “Click Here” there is no fast way for the user to know which link goes well and will be forced to go through every link on your site to listen to your Link Title Text and/or your well formed link to determine which link they may need.
The Title Text is also used by users who use magnification software. The Title Text will display on hover and all them to see where the link is going and is for without having to look at all of the text.
Unique Links on a Page
Your links should be unique on the page but if you need the same link on a page then you will want to use the same exact text for each link.
User Impact
This prevents users from becoming confused or lost on your website when trying to navigate. When users of assistive technology pull up a list of links and the same link appears multiple times then it should be easily identifiable that they are the same link so that the user know exactly where the link is going/for. This is why Unique Link Text (in the next section) is so important.
Unique Link Text
The text that you use should be unique per link. If you have the link multiple times on a page, then you should use the same text for all of the occurrences on your page. This includes footer and navigation links that you have linking to specific resources.
User Impact
When users of assistive technology pull up a list of links and multiple links have the same text the assumption will be made that they go to the same place. If the links don’t go to the same place but have the same text then the user will become confused.