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

About this Technique

This technique relates to:

This technique applies to all technologies that contain links.

Techniques are examples of ways to meet Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). They are not required to meet WCAG. Content can satisfy the normative requirements of WCAG even if it does not use any of the documented techniques. See About WCAG Techniques.

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

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

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

  • Check #1 is true.

Test Rules

The following are Test Rules related to this Technique. It is not necessary to use these particular Test Rules to check for conformance with WCAG, but they are defined and approved test methods. For information on using Test Rules, see Understanding Test Rules for WCAG Success Criteria.

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