Understanding Success Criterion 2.4.8 [Link Purpose (Link Text)]
Intent of this Success Criterion
The intent of this success criterion is to help users understand the purpose of each link in the content, so they can decide whether they want to follow it. Links with the same destination should have the same descriptions (per Success Criterion 3.2.4), but links with different purposes and destinations should have different descriptions. Because the purpose of a link can be identified from its link text, links can be understood when they are out of context, such as when the user agent provides a list of all the links on a page.
Specific Benefits of Success Criterion 2.4.8:
This success criterion helps people with motion impairment by letting them skip Web pages that they are not interested in, avoiding the keystrokes needed to visit the referenced content and then return to the current content.
People with cognitive limitations will not become disoriented by extra navigation to and from content they are not interested in.
People with visual disabilities will benefit from not losing their place in the content when they return to the original page. The screen reader's list of links is more useful for finding information because the target of the links are described.
Examples of Success Criterion 2.4.8
Both an icon and text are included in the same link
An icon of a voting machine and the text "Government of Ireland's Commission of Electronic Voting" are combined to make a single link.
A list of book titles
A list of books is available in three formats: HTML, PDF, and mp3 (a recording of a person reading the book). The title of the book is followed by links to the different formats. The rendered text for each link is just the format type, but the text associated with each link includes the title as well as the format; for instance, "Gulliver's Travels, MP3."
Related Resources
Resources are for information purposes only, no endorsement implied.
Techniques and Failures for Success Criterion 2.4.8 [Link Purpose (Link Text)]
Each numbered item in this section represents a technique or combination of techniques that the WCAG Working Group deems sufficient for meeting this success criterion. The techniques listed only satisfy the success criterion if all of the WCAG 2.0 conformance requirements have been met.
Sufficient Techniques
G91: Providing link text that describes the purpose of a link using one of the following techniques:
Providing a supplemental description of the purpose of a link using one of the following techniques:
Common Failures Identified by the Working Group
The following are common mistakes that are considered failures of Success Criterion 2.4.8 by the WCAG Working Group.
(No failures currently documented)
Additional Techniques (Advisory) for 2.4.8
Although not required for conformance, the following additional techniques should be considered in order to make content more accessible. Not all techniques can be used or would be effective in all situations.