Hyperlinks must be in proper language

Accessibility

Hyperlinks must be in clear language and be meaningful (you can learn more about accessible hyperlinks in another post)

Reason

• Having hypertext read to you can be a frustrating and confusing ordeal if these links aren’t well-worded
• If the URL itself is used it will be read to the user – also frustrating!
• The meaning of a URL may never become apparent – or at the very end of several seconds of reading
• For anyone, reading a URL to try to understand when the link is annoying and possibly never going to be enlightening.

Best practice

Some examples of hyperlink text that makes it easy to comprehend what will happen when the link is clicked:

• Visit the Carleton University Art Gallery
• Visit the MacOdrum Library website [in a new tab]
• Find out about Web Services
• Read about BUSI2101A Organizational Behaviour [opens a PDF file]

With email addresses this is important so that names are not garbled. It is best to use a call to action that describes what the anticipated outcome will be. For example,

Email Web Services

Example of less accessible practices

• Read about the class:
  https://www.universityaffairs.ca/news/news-article/role-playing-games-are-breathing-new-life-into-the-history-classroom/
  • Screen reader users may hear a URL read aloud in full, making it difficult to understand where the link leads.
  • Many URLs reveal their meaning only at the end, after users have parsed the dashes and slashes. Even visual readers must decipher them.
  • Words, abbreviations, acronyms, and contractions may be read differently by screen readers. For example, “.ca” could be read in several ways.
• The same is true of email addresses, and often more so.
  • For example, fmp.service.centre@carleton.ca may be read in an unexpected way.
  • Carleton email addresses often combine first and last names, such as georgeestephanides@cunet.carleton.ca. A screen reader is unlikely to pronounce the name as Professor Estephanides does.
• It is also important not to use all capital letters as link text. While this may seem to make text stand out, the link colour already does that.
  • For example:
    OPT-IN NOW
  • When a word is rendered differently, some users may not be able to recognize it by its shape rather than reading it phonetically.

Additional benefits

• Usability: It takes some cognitive energy to look at georgeestephanides@cunet.carleton.ca and it decipher it as George Estephapnides (Georgee Stephanides? George E. Stephanides?)
• SEO: Text has to be easily parsable by search engines. Carleton University’s Master’s Program is easier to parse than https://graduate.carleton.ca/programs/masters-programs/
• Marketing: Using less energy to decipher a link (see Usability) makes people more likely to stay longer on the site and so to visit/apply to the University.

What WCAG/WAVE-AIM says

WCAG only refers to text links being as easy to read as possible. It doesn’t mention specific measures around not using URLs but simply says that “The purpose of each link can be determined from the link text alone,” which it cannot be when only the URL is used.

AIM summarizes the best practices around use of URLs on their site.

WAVE does not issue a specific error or alert for this. However, that does not mean it is not a critical barrier to accessibility if ignored.

(Be sure to learn more about errors and alerts.)