Accessible Hyperlinks

Markette Pierce Updated by Markette Pierce

Find below some standards for creating meaningful and clear hyperlinks that ensure these links will also be accessible by assistive technology users.

The following guidelines were developed using the WebAIM page on links and hypertext.

Use Case

Implications

Screen readers prefix “link” to whatever is inside the href attribute when reading content aloud.

No need to include “link to” in the link itself

Screen readers allow users to skip from link to link by clicking tab; users may encounter links entirely out of context of other copy.

  1. Link text makes sense out of context
  2. Link text should be concise
  3. Distinguishing information first
  4. Avoid non-informative link phrases (“click here,” “more,” “link to,” “info,” etc.)
Be sure to use the name of the document or webpage as the text of the link.

Screen readers allow users to sort all links alphabetically.

Use unambiguous words and phrases that allow intuitive organization

Screen readers read the entire link aloud.

  1. Use human readable language & avoid URLs in most cases (short homepages may be appropriate)
In the case of some citations, URLs may be included. Seek guidance with your IDD and QA on this matter.
  1. Long enough to convey the content and no longer (concise)

Links should be the only item that look like links.

Avoid underlining elsewhere

When images are used as links, the alt text performs the function of link text.

Alt text needs to convey both content of image and function of link, if different

How did we do?

Accessibility and Semantic Headings

Accessible Tables

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