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What’s in a link, anyway?
The link, these tiny things that we use in many places, in a sentence, as a nav link or even embedded in a call to action; but the common purpose between them are thus clicking a link could:
- Take the user:
- To a different location on the same page (an internal link)
- To another page on the same website
- To a page on another website
- Download a file
- Open an e-mail programme
- Dialling a telephone number
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MORE IDEAS ON THIS
Internal links
To jump to a different point on the same webpage. That’s convenient for the visitor, who can skip large parts of the page and go straight to the content they’re interested in.
But take care to not only the visual but the keyboard focus should move to the destination. Modern browsers do this...
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Open in a new window or a new tab?
the best thing is to give users control rather than making decisions for them. A browser’s standard (default) behaviour is always the most predictable and is what users expect.
That said, it’s perfectly all right to open a link in a new window or tab, as long as you let the user know that t...
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48 reads
Linking to an e-mail address or a telephone number
Compare these two ways of linking:
- Please don’t hesitate to e-mail or to call us.
- Please don’t hesitate to send a message to
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Linking to a file
How do you link to a file to be downloaded such as a PDF, a restaurant menu or a fact sheet, let’s say
Compare these two ways of linking a document:
- WebAIM Quick Reference: Web ...
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When to underline a link?
Underlining is the universal pattern for a link. Users get it right away. So use this pattern for links in paragraphs of text.
Links that are obviously links, such in navigation menus, don’t have to be underlined.
Oh, don't forget to read the image 😘
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Giving It A Name
Screen readers announce the content on a website, so there must be actual content to announce, in the form of text: an “accessible name”, as it is called.
There are several ways to add the accessible name to a link, for example:
- Use an image or font icon and add the word “Twitter...
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Embedding an image in a link
In some cases we want to add an image as a link and to be satisfied with the accessibility's aspect we will add some alt text that will describe our image.
but there is a tiny issue that will face our users that suffering from impaired vision when using a screen reader to read this text out...
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The Golden Rule
Compare these two sentences:
- Click here to learn more about the Wadden Sea.
- Learn more about the Wadden Sea.
The first link text is meaningless, you hav...
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Semantics matters
To make sure a link will work properly, use an <a> element, with an href containing a url. That way, all devices will know how to operate the link. Keyboard interactions, hover and focus, default styling and feedback
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Design tips for links
- Make links large enough, and include enough space between them and other links, so they are easy to click for a visitor with Parkinson’s disease or rheumatism.
- Make sure the colour-contrast ratio between text and background is at least 4.5:1 and, for the underlining itself at least 3...
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