Links in electronic documents

When adding links in documents that will be distributed electronically, the addresses (URLs) should be linked (clickable) and embedded with descriptive text instead of presented “bare” (exposing the full URL).

Unlinked URLs are difficult for everyone

If an address isn’t linked, the user is forced to either copy-and-paste the link into their browser address bar or to try to remember the URL to type it in manually. Remembering to make sure your links are actually linked lets users click through as they expect.

Bare URLs are hard to read and harder to listen to

When a screen reader is reading a document and encounters a bare URL, it will read the full URL out loud to the best of its ability. Of course, “to the best of its ability” doesn’t mean that a screen reader user will actually be able to understand the URL. Short URLs may seem easy enough, but as the URLs get longer, they get progressively more difficult to understand, especially if the URL includes a string of random characters.

Describe links instead of using “click here”

Screen reader users are able to call up a list of every link in a document, allowing them to quickly skim through to see what a document links to and pick a particular link to visit. However, if the author has simply linked the words “click here” or “here”, then the screen reader user just has a list of links that all say “click here”, and does not have any indication of where those links are going to take them.

Instead, link text that says something about what is being linked or where the link goes.

For example

Putting those together, here are a few ways in which I could link to my YouTube channel where I post training videos (with apologies in advance to anyone who might be using a screen reader with this tutorial).

• “My training videos are on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDMVhDDxWiKZqOsFE1BbkfQ.”
  Bad: A long link with random characters (how would you pronounce “UCDMVhDDxWiKZqOsFE1BbkfQ”?) that isn’t linked, so users can’t click through.
• “My training videos are on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDMVhDDxWiKZqOsFE1BbkfQ.”
  Bad: Linked and clickable, but still a bare URL.
• “You can click here to see training videos on my YouTube channel.”
  Bad: Linked and clickable and not a bare URL, but uses the “click here” phrasing. If all the information you are given about a link is “click here”, do you know where it’s going or why you should follow that link?
• “I post accessibility training videos on YouTube.”
  Good: Linked, clickable, and uses descriptive text so that the user knows where they will go when they click the link.

Links in hardcopy documents

If you’re creating a document that will be printed and posted or distributed physically, linking URLs obviously won’t work. But it’s still important to keep accessibility and ease of use in mind.

For printed documents, it’s best to keep the URLs as short and simple as possible. If you’re including a link to the Highline website, for example, it’s fine to just include the text “highline.edu”. Even somewhat longer URLs might be acceptable if they’re made up of easily understandable words; for example, it’s still fairly easy for someone to see an address like “https://www.highline.edu/what-we-offer/” on a piece of paper and be able to type that into their computer.

But once again, as URLs get longer, or if they use a lot of random characters (like that YouTube link up above, any Google Forms link, or links to the Highline course catalog, for example), they get more difficult to type accurately. For these situations, use a link shortening service like Bitly to convert the long URL to something shorter and easier to type. It may still be a few random characters, but it’s easier to type “bit.ly/49c7tTE” into a computer or phone than that long YouTube URL. If space and the design of your document allows, you can also include a QR code that mobile phone users can scan so that they don’t have to type anything in at all.