HTML and XHTML documents that contain links, (<a href> elements)
This technique relates to:
The objective of this technique is to describe the purpose of a link by providing
descriptive text as the content of the a element. The description lets a
user distinguish this link from other links in the Web page and helps the user determine
whether to follow the link. The URI of the destination is generally not sufficiently
descriptive.
When an image is the only content of a link, the text alternative for the image describes the unique function of the link.
When the content of a link contains both text and one or more images, if the text is sufficient to describe the purpose of the link, the images may have an empty text alternative. (See H67: Using null alt text and no title attribute on img elements for images that AT should ignore (HTML) .) When the images convey information beyond the purpose of the link, they must also have appropriate alt text.
Describing the purpose of a link in HMTL in the text content of the a
element.
Example Code:
<a href="routes.html">
Current routes at Boulders Climbing Gym
</a>Using the alt attribute for the img element to describe
the purpose of a graphical link.
Example Code:
<a href="routes.html">
<img src="topo.gif" alt="Current routes at Boulders Climbing Gym" />
</a> Using an empty alt attribute when the anchor (a) element contains text
that describes the purpose of the link in addition to the img element.
Note that the link text will appear on the page next to the image.
Example Code:
<a href="routes.html">
<img src="topo.gif" alt="" />
Current routes at Boulders Climbing Gym
</a>A link contains an icon and text, and the site help refers to the icon. The
img has a text alternative which is the name used for the icon in the
site help, which describes clicking the home page icon.
Example Code:
<a href="foo.htm">
<img src="house.gif" alt="icon"/>
Home page
</a>A link contains text and an icon, and the icon provides additional information about the target.
Example Code:
<a href="WMFP.pdf">
Woodend Music Festival Program
<img src="pdficon.gif" alt="PDF format"/>
</a>Resources are for information purposes only, no endorsement implied.
For each link in the content that uses this technique:
Check that text or a text alternative for non-text content is included in the
a element
If an img element is the only content of the a element,
check that its text alternative describes the purpose of the link
If the a element contains one or more img element(s)
and the text alternative of the img element(s) is empty, check that
the text of the link describes the purpose of the link
If the a element only contains text, check that the text describes
the purpose of the link
The above checks are true.