Links

All hyperlinks should be clear and easy to understand. All URLs should be shortened or linked if possible rather than having a long URL in the content.

Accessibility

  • Users with assistive technology, like a screen reader, often hear all the links on a page to help them find where they want to go. Others may view your website highly magnified, so the user will only see the link text and a few words around it at any one time.
  • To help your users, your link text (the words that are linked, often called ‘anchor text’) must make the link destination clear, in the context of their surrounding content.

Best Practices

  • The purpose of the link is clear from the link text (for example, ‘My blog’); or
  • The purpose of the link is clear from the surrounding content, meaning the same sentence, paragraph or cell in a table (for example, ‘Visit my blog’ )
  • On social media remove the URL from the text portion of the post when possible, or use a shortened link.

Facebook post. Text reads, Register for our upcoming webinar on June 26th. Researchers from the University of South Florida, St. Petersburg will dive into their findings on the impact of captions and transcripts on students. Link preview text reads, Impact of Captions & Transcripts on Student Learning & Comprehension.