{"id":161,"date":"2024-05-14T15:53:53","date_gmt":"2024-05-14T22:53:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/daesa.wsu.edu\/web-a11y-testing-demo\/?page_id=161"},"modified":"2024-05-16T13:55:10","modified_gmt":"2024-05-16T20:55:10","slug":"link-text-is-not-concise","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/daesa.wsu.edu\/web-a11y-testing-demo\/links\/link-text-is-not-concise\/","title":{"rendered":"Link Text Is Not Concise"},"content":{"rendered":"<section  class=\"wsu-section wsu-width--full wsu-color-background--gray-5 wsu-spacing-after--xxmedium\"  >\r\n    <div class=\"wsu-section__inner wsu-width--content\">    \n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">About This Page<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><em>This page has been adapted from the <a href=\"https:\/\/wsu.edu\/digital-accessibility\/core-concepts\/links\/\">links core concept page<\/a> on the WSU digital accessibility website by Daniel Rieck (<a href=\"mailto:daniel.rieck@wsu.edu\">daniel.rieck@wsu.edu<\/a>).<\/em> Daniel included all the content on the original links page and then expanded it with additional thoughts and opinions mainly to create more opportunities to demonstrate how to test a document for common accessibility issues that involve links. Accessibility issues involving links were then intentionally introduced to the page for the purpose of learning. This page was used as part of a presentation on web accessibility testing for GAAD 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wsu-cta \" >\n\t<a \t\t\t\t\thref=\"https:\/\/wave.webaim.org\/report#\/https:\/\/daesa.wsu.edu\/web-a11y-testing-demo\/links\/link-text-is-not-concise\/\"\t\n\t\tclass=\"wsu-button  wsu-button--style-outline\">\n\t\t\t\n\t\tTest this page using WAVE\t\t\t<\/a>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"wsu-accordion  wsu-accordion--size-small wsu-color-scheme--dark\">\r\n    <h3 id=\"unique-id-1__22018\" class=\"wsu-accordion__title\">\r\n        <button class=\"wsu-accordion__title-button wsu-accordion--toggle\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"unique-id-1__content\">Accessibility Issues that Affect Links on This Page<\/button>\r\n    <\/h3>\r\n    <div id=\"unique-id-1__content\" class=\"wsu-accordion__content\" aria-labelledby=\"unique-id-1__22018\">\r\n        <div class=\"wsu-accordion__content-inner\">\r\n            \n\n<p class=\"wsu-spacing-after--default\">Compared to the <a href=\"https:\/\/daesa.wsu.edu\/web-a11y-testing-demo\/links\/\" data-type=\"page\">reference page<\/a> that has no accessibility issues that affect links, this page has several links whose link text has been made verbose. Beyond being arguably unsightly, long lines of link text also take longer to read through. This issue applies especially to assistive technology, resulting in a barrier for people who depend on such technology to quickly scan through the links on a page.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wsu-spacing-after--small\">The WAVE tool will not highlight links with especially long sequences of link text, so a manual check is required to notice and resolve links that are not concise.<\/p>\n\n        <\/div>\r\n    <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\n    <\/div><\/section>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Importance of Links<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Having clear, concise, and meaningful links can improve both the accessibility and usability of your digital content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Links should provide a quick and clear understanding of the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/wsu.edu\/digital-accessibility\/get-started\/glossary\/link-destination\/\">link destination<\/a>. People scan the content for links whether they use&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/wsu.edu\/digital-accessibility\/get-started\/glossary\/assistive-technology\/\">assistive technology<\/a>&nbsp;or not. Providing a link that describes its destination allows the link to be understood out of context from its surrounding text. This is especially helpful to those using assistive technology to scan through a list of links pulled from the page content or who are navigating through a page by the links.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lengthy text links, links that span multiple lines, ambiguous links, and some URLs (web addresses) hinder people\u2019s ability to assess the links quickly and easily in the content. Providing concise, meaningful, descriptive, and clearly identifiable links lets people quickly understand their purpose and decide whether to select them.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wsu-hero wsu-width--full wsu-pattern--wsu-light-radial-left  wsu-hero--size-xsmall \">\n\t\t<a class=\"wsu-hero__link-slide\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Anchor_text\" aria-hidden=\"true\" tabindex=\"-1\">\n\t\tLink Text is Foundational\t<\/a>\n\t\n\t<div class=\"wsu-image-frame wsu-image-frame--fill\">\n\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-daesa\/uploads\/sites\/3457\/2024\/05\/Links_AdobeStock_137106049-scaled.jpeg\"\n\t\tsrcset=\"https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-daesa\/uploads\/sites\/3457\/2024\/05\/Links_AdobeStock_137106049-scaled.jpeg 2560w, https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-daesa\/uploads\/sites\/3457\/2024\/05\/Links_AdobeStock_137106049-scaled.jpeg 396w, https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-daesa\/uploads\/sites\/3457\/2024\/05\/Links_AdobeStock_137106049-scaled.jpeg 792w, https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-daesa\/uploads\/sites\/3457\/2024\/05\/Links_AdobeStock_137106049-scaled.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-daesa\/uploads\/sites\/3457\/2024\/05\/Links_AdobeStock_137106049-scaled.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-daesa\/uploads\/sites\/3457\/2024\/05\/Links_AdobeStock_137106049-scaled.jpeg 2048w\"\n\t\tsizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\"\n\t\talt=\"Close up of push pins and strings linked together.\"\n\t\tstyle=\"object-position: 48% 53%\"\n\t\t\/>\n<\/div>\n\n\t<div class=\"wsu-overlay wsu-pattern-after wsu-overlay--dark-left wsu-pattern--wsu-light-radial-left\"><\/div>\n\t<div class=\"wsu-hero__content\">\n\t\t<div class=\"wsu-hero__caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div id=\"title-id-69d41d6b44509\" class=\"wsu-title wsu-hero__title\"><span>Link Text is Foundational<\/span><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wsu-caption wsu-hero__copy\">\n\t\t\t\tThe modern web would not exist without meaningful link text.\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a class=\"wsu-button wsu-button--size-small\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Anchor_text\" aria-label=\"History and significance of link text Link Text is Foundational\">\n\t\t\t\tHistory and significance of link text\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Link Text Examples<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/wsu.edu\/digital-accessibility\/core-concepts\/links\/\">A few examples of meaningful, concise link text are given in a table on the original links core concept page<\/a>. Matching examples of ambiguous or lengthy link text are also given. Additionally, some examples of link text have been provided above (see the hero banner) and below (see the announcement cards).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Links to Recent WSU News Articles on Research Studies<\/h4>\n\n\n<div class=\"wsu-card-wrapper wsu-card-wrapper--per-row-3\" >\r\n    \n<article class=\"wsu-card\">\r\n\t\t<div class=\"wsu-card__content\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"wsu-title \">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tResearch could lead to more effective Q\u00a0fever therapeutics\t\t\t\t\t<\/h3>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wsu-caption\">\r\n\t\t\tA <a href=\"https:\/\/news.wsu.edu\/news\/2024\/05\/14\/research-could-lead-to-more-effective-q-fever-therapeutics\/\">WSU\u00a0study exploring how the human immune system mounts a defense against Q\u00a0fever could pave the way to better treatments<\/a> for the disease and others like it.\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t<\/article>\n\n<article class=\"wsu-card\">\r\n\t\t<div class=\"wsu-card__content\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"wsu-title \">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDiscovery of mechanism plants use to change seed oil could impact industrial, food oils\t\t\t\t\t<\/h3>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wsu-caption\">\r\n\t\t\tResearchers have found a <a href=\"https:\/\/news.wsu.edu\/press-release\/2024\/04\/30\/discovery-of-mechanism-plants-use-to-change-seed-oil-could-impact-industrial-food-oils\/\">way to genetically engineer a type of test plant to more efficiently produce different kinds of seed oil<\/a>.\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t<\/article>\n\n<article class=\"wsu-card\">\r\n\t\t<div class=\"wsu-card__content\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"wsu-title \">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tStudent turns textile scraps into wearable art\t\t\t\t\t<\/h3>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wsu-caption\">\r\n\t\t\tKiah Conway recently <a href=\"https:\/\/news.wsu.edu\/news\/2024\/05\/08\/student-turns-textile-scraps-into-wearable-art\/\">created a dress and a jacket using leftover material from a WSU storage closet containing hundreds of pounds of fabrics, remnants, and scraps<\/a>.\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t<\/article>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Linked Image Examples<\/h3>\n\n\n<div class=\"wsu-row wsu-row--thirds\" >\r\n    \n<div class=\"wsu-column\"  style=\"\">\r\n\t\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wsu.edu\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"400\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-daesa\/uploads\/sites\/3457\/2024\/05\/WSU-lockup-vert-rgb_1x.png\" alt=\"Washington State University.\" class=\"wp-image-136\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-daesa\/uploads\/sites\/3457\/2024\/05\/WSU-lockup-vert-rgb_1x.png 400w, https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-daesa\/uploads\/sites\/3457\/2024\/05\/WSU-lockup-vert-rgb_1x-396x396.png 396w, https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-daesa\/uploads\/sites\/3457\/2024\/05\/WSU-lockup-vert-rgb_1x-198x198.png 198w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n<\/div>\r\n\n\n<div class=\"wsu-column\"  style=\"\">\r\n\t\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/pullman.wsu.edu\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"400\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-daesa\/uploads\/sites\/3457\/2024\/05\/WSU-PUL-lockup-vert-rgb-1x.png\" alt=\"Washington State University Pullman.\" class=\"wp-image-139\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-daesa\/uploads\/sites\/3457\/2024\/05\/WSU-PUL-lockup-vert-rgb-1x.png 400w, https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-daesa\/uploads\/sites\/3457\/2024\/05\/WSU-PUL-lockup-vert-rgb-1x-396x396.png 396w, https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-daesa\/uploads\/sites\/3457\/2024\/05\/WSU-PUL-lockup-vert-rgb-1x-198x198.png 198w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n<\/div>\r\n\n\n<div class=\"wsu-column\"  style=\"\">\r\n\t\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wsu.edu\/digital-accessibility\/documents\/2023\/10\/core-concept-check-sheet.pdf\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"792\" height=\"1025\" src=\"https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-daesa\/uploads\/sites\/3457\/2024\/05\/screenshot_core-concept-check-sheet-792x1025.png\" alt=\"Core concept check sheet (PDF).\" class=\"wp-image-140\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-daesa\/uploads\/sites\/3457\/2024\/05\/screenshot_core-concept-check-sheet-792x1025.png 792w, https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-daesa\/uploads\/sites\/3457\/2024\/05\/screenshot_core-concept-check-sheet-396x512.png 396w, https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-daesa\/uploads\/sites\/3457\/2024\/05\/screenshot_core-concept-check-sheet-768x994.png 768w, https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-daesa\/uploads\/sites\/3457\/2024\/05\/screenshot_core-concept-check-sheet-1187x1536.png 1187w, https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-daesa\/uploads\/sites\/3457\/2024\/05\/screenshot_core-concept-check-sheet.png 1275w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 792px) 100vw, 792px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n<\/div>\r\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Links on WSU Websites<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Format of Links in the Web Design System<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Links are displayed with crimson coloring and an underline on websites built in WSU WordPress. When a person interacts with a link, the underline disappears to signal the link is responsive to this behavior. If keyboard navigation is used to interact with the link, a focus indicator will also be shown consisting of a crimson border drawn around the link text. The crimson coloring has been <a href=\"https:\/\/brand.wsu.edu\/colors\/#core-colors\">carefully chosen to match the WSU brand&#8217;s core colors<\/a> and have a sufficient contrast against the typical white or light gray backgrounds present on most content containers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Advice on Testing Links<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Look at Link Text and Destination Together<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>When testing links on a page, it would be easy to check link destinations in sequence to look for broken links without simultaneously considering what the link text indicates the destination will be. It would also be easy to look at all the link text in sequence without checking link destinations at the same time. However, the best method for testing links is to manually test each link on a page in sequence by first considering the link&#8217;s text and then following it to ensure the destination matches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/validator.w3.org\/checklink\">Automated tools such as the W3C Link Checker can help with checking web pages for broken links<\/a>. While these tools can be highly beneficial, by only looking at link destination, they still do not address the need to check the quality of link text.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Always Manually Check Link Destinations<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>When we as web content author produce a typical WSU web page, it is our duty to manually check all the links we include on the page. If we do not try our links, our readers will try them for us, and they will be affected by any mistakes we missed. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.browserstack.com\/guide\/how-to-perform-website-qa-testing\">BrowserStack reported statistics in 2023 that show how people will stop browsing flawed websites that give them a bad experience<\/a>. And flawed links will certainly lead to a bad experience on a website. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nngroup.com\/articles\/link-promise\/\">Kara Pernice from the Nielsen Norman Group explained in 2014 how a link is a promise<\/a> and the impact of breaking such promises through unexpected or incorrect destinations that are out of harmony with what the link text indicated.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Importance of Links Having clear, concise, and meaningful links can improve both the accessibility and usability of your digital content. Links should provide a quick and clear understanding of the&nbsp;link destination. People scan the content for links whether they use&nbsp;assistive technology&nbsp;or not. Providing a link that describes its destination allows the link to be understood [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":384,"featured_media":0,"parent":112,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"wsuwp_university_location":[],"wsuwp_university_org":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/daesa.wsu.edu\/web-a11y-testing-demo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/161"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/daesa.wsu.edu\/web-a11y-testing-demo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/daesa.wsu.edu\/web-a11y-testing-demo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daesa.wsu.edu\/web-a11y-testing-demo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/384"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daesa.wsu.edu\/web-a11y-testing-demo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/daesa.wsu.edu\/web-a11y-testing-demo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/161\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":275,"href":"https:\/\/daesa.wsu.edu\/web-a11y-testing-demo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/161\/revisions\/275"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daesa.wsu.edu\/web-a11y-testing-demo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/daesa.wsu.edu\/web-a11y-testing-demo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daesa.wsu.edu\/web-a11y-testing-demo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daesa.wsu.edu\/web-a11y-testing-demo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161"},{"taxonomy":"wsuwp_university_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daesa.wsu.edu\/web-a11y-testing-demo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wsuwp_university_location?post=161"},{"taxonomy":"wsuwp_university_org","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daesa.wsu.edu\/web-a11y-testing-demo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wsuwp_university_org?post=161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}