LINKS
Mistakes were made… with links.
How are you sharing links with your students? Whether you’re providing a link to an article, website, YouTube video, book (you name it), let’s say goodbye to copying and pasting ugly long links!
There may be items on this page that are inaccessible for individuals with some forms of disability. These items are necessary for illustrating differences between accessible and inaccessible content. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Shelby@thada.org
LET’S LEARN ABOUT
WHY COPY/PASTING LINKS IS A MISTAKE
Have you ever given your students links that looked like this?
Besides being visually nauseating, pasting full links in your instructional materials can cause major challenges for students that rely on screen readers.
Screen readers will actually read the entire link out loud to a student. That means that this…
sounds like this to a student using a screen reader.
So, let’s avoid pasting ugly, long links directly into our materials.
WHY “CLICK HERE” IS A MISTAKE
Another common mistake is hyperlinking our links to variations of “here”, “click here”, “go here”, or “read more”. For example: “Learn more about making accessible PowerPoints by going here.”
While this seems like a step in an accessible direction, it actually creates several issues:
- It presupposes that the student has a device to click with. A student that relies on a screen reader is not using a mouse.
- Too many “click here[s]” doesn’t allow the student to differentiate between the links. For example: Click here, here, and here to learn about PowerPoints, Word documents, and images.
- “Click here” is a useless description when taken out context. Those relying on screen readers will not know where the link leads and if it’s the content they’re look for.
A screen reader provides a summary list of links that are on a page. The student can go through the list of links and click on the one they are looking for. Watch the video to see what happens when we use, “click here” language.
DESCRIPTIVE LINKS ARE YOUR SOLUTION
What are they?
A descriptive link is a link embedded in descriptive text. The goal is for the linked text to make sense out-of-context.
Compare descriptive links and inaccessible links.
This video illustrates the comparison of inaccessible and accessible links (descriptive links) side by side using NVDA, a screen reader with Chrome browser.
How to properly write descriptive links.
A descriptive link should incorporate the media type and a description of the content.
For example: Visit the webpage on the emperor penguin.
The hyperlinked text describes where the link leads (a webpage) and the content at the link (emperor penguins). The linked text makes sense out-of-context – “webpage on the emperor penguin”.
Use descriptive links to introduce any type of linked media (e.g., websites, books, articles, PowerPoints, videos). See further examples below:
- Check out the Teaching Headquarters for the Americans with Disabilities Act website.
- Order a book from Amazon called “How to Do Things with Words” by J.L. Austin.
- Read an article called “The Linguistics of Hyperlinks” by Lauren Gawne.
- Be sure to download this week’s PowerPoint presentation on Identity and Group Membership.
- Watch the lecture on YouTube about All Caps and Alternating Caps.
BEFORE & AFTER
POWERPOINT & COURSE SHELL
PowerPoint before ADA best practices.
PowerPoint after ADA best practices.
Course shell before ADA best practices.
Course shell after ADA best practices.
