Hyperlinks are used often to link students to outside sources or to link students to other sources within the Learning Management system. Hyperlinks offer convenience and the ability to curate a variety of sources into a single course.
Accessible hyperlinks benefit many students
- Using named hyperlinks removes redundancy when text is read through a screen reading device.
- Using hyperlinks tells the students where they are linking
- Hyperlinks can give more specific information about the purpose of the link than a URL
- Using hyperlinks does not interrupt the flow of information in the text
Strategies that will help make hyperlinks accessible
Links should be clearly labeled because a URL may not be clear to a student using assistive technology such as a screen reader. The URL should be embedded in the text of the document using the link option within the software program (insert image of link image) or using the link element in HTML. Remember links should be named in emails as well.
Follow these principles to name a link:
- Use descriptive link text that does not rely on the context from the surrounding text.
- Keep the amount of text in the link to a minimum.
- Use underlined text with a color that stands out from the surrounding text.
*When linking students to a website be sure to run an accessible check of the website first. WAVE offers a strong accessibility check. WAVE will generate a report on the accessibility of webpage after you provide the URL. Although you may not be able to correct the accessibility issues with the webpage, you may be able to find a different, more accessible webpage to provide information to your students.