Accessibility FAST
Accessible Links
Use descriptive hyperlink text in place of bare URLs. Effective link text helps readers locate links and understand their destination and purpose. For users of assistive technology hyperlink text can be used to navigate content quickly. Bare URLs or links written as “click here” or “read more” provide less information to everyone and are not useful to assistive technology users for navigation.
On this page:
Linked Text
Hyperlink text should be:
Descriptive
- Describe the destination and purpose of the link.
- “Click here” or “More” are not useful as those links are dependent on the surrounding context.
- Screen reader software allows users to navigate a document by moving link to link. This is useful to skip content, browse, or revisit a link. As such, links should be unique and make sense without surrounding context.
- Bare URLs are unpleasant to listen to and do not provide any meaningful information. Do not include bare URLs. The exceptions are short URLs intended to be memorized, such as langara.ca, URLs shortened using tools like bit.ly, or email addresses.
- When linking to PDF use a file landing page (if available on your platform) instead of direct download or opening automatically in browser. Many users are excluded by PDFs and will appreciate the warning.
Concise
- Hyperlink text should be to the point without superfluous information. Surrounding text may provide further context if necessary.
Unique
- Each link that goes to an unique destination must have unique link text.
- If multiple links go to the same destination, make the link text the same for each.
Visually distinct
- Use standard link formatting, often underlined text in a contrasting colour.
- Generally, only use underlined text for links.
Link Examples
Consider the following examples of hyperlink text in context:
Create accessible hyperlinks that describe the link destination. Avoid “click here”, “see more”, or other links that do make sense out of context.
Verify reading order of slide contents via Accessibility > Reading Order (on macOS Arrange > Selection Pane.)
Learn more about creating slides with an accessible reading order.
And now consider the link text without context (text intentionally lacks appropriate colour contrast to visually emphasize what a screen reader user would hear):
Create accessible hyperlinks that describe the link destination. Avoid “click here”, “see more”, or other links that do make sense out of context.
Verify reading order of slide contents via Accessibility > Reading Order (on macOS Arrange > Selection Pane.)
Learn more about creating slides with an accessible reading order.
Hyperlink text written in this style provides meaningful information about the links purpose and destination, independent of surrounding context. This is useful for skimming content, finding a previous resource, and navigating by a links list.
Consider how this differs from poor link text:
Read more about hyperlink text.
Read more about hyperlink text.
“Read more” provides no useful information on it’s own.
For a demonstration, watch this 45 second video:
To Create Links
Write a description of the link destination using informative and relevant words. For example: Accessible links quick start guide or Digital Accessibility Essentials.
Select descriptive text and use built-in tools to insert a link. In most platforms, the link button will resemble a chain or interlocking loops, such as: 
Or, on most platforms press Control (Command on macOS) k.
Paste the destination URL in the address or URL box.
Use default link styling of a contrasting colour and underlined text.
The exceptions to this are for email addresses as unlinked plain text or short top-level URLs such as Langara.ca
If necessary to provide a URL, such as on a document you are directly printing for distribution, use link shorteners like bit.ly.
Cybersecurity
Some users report hesitancy to click on hyperlinked text for fear of fraudulent websites. To counter this, some post raw URLS. Avoid this practice. A better method is to instruct users to hover their mouse or move keyboard focus to a link and look to the bottom left corner of their browser window to see the raw URL.
Linked text to another document or part of document that the user can follow by selecting. Effective hyperlink text should make sense independent of the content around it.
