Techniques for WCAG 2.0

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G91: Providing link text that describes the purpose of a link

Applicability

All technologies that contain links.

This technique relates to:

Description

The objective of this technique is to describe the purpose of a link in the text of the link. The description lets a user distinguish this link from links in the Web page that lead to other destinations and helps the user determine whether to follow the link. The URI of the destination is generally not sufficiently descriptive.

Examples

Example 1: Describing the purpose of a link in HTML in the text content of the a element

Example Code:


              <a href="routes.html">
                Current routes at Boulders Climbing Gym
                </a>
            

Resources

No resources available for this technique.

Tests

Procedure

For each link in the content that uses this technique:

  1. Check that text of the link describes the purpose of the link

Expected Results

If this is a sufficient technique for a success criterion, failing this test procedure does not necessarily mean that the success criterion has not been satisfied in some other way, only that this technique has not been successfully implemented and can not be used to claim conformance.

Techniques are Informative

Techniques are informative—that means they are not required. The basis for determining conformance to WCAG 2.0 is the success criteria from the WCAG 2.0 standard—not the techniques. For important information about techniques, please see the Understanding Techniques for WCAG Success Criteria section of Understanding WCAG 2.0.