Day 8: Add Meaningful Hyperlinks

Welcome to Week 2 of the #ABD21DayChallenge!

Today we are focused on adding meaningful hyperlinks to a document, which help people who use screen readers, keyboard navigation, and voice recognition software by clearly and concisely communicating the function and purpose of a link when read or spoken out of context.

To write a meaningful hyperlink name:

• Indicate where a link will take someone by including the full title of the destination page.
• Select short and easy to say names.
• Avoid “click here” and “read more” because it is not sufficiently informative.
• Underline hyperlink names to help people with color blindness and low vision identify hyperlinks.

• Do not duplicate names because it can confuse users of screen readers, who will read hyperlink names out of context in an alphabetized links list.

Follow these steps to add hyperlinks to a Word document:

1. Copy the entire URL (including the https) you would like to link in your document. On Windows, use “Ctrl+C” to copy. On Mac OS, use “Cmd+C” to copy.
2. Paste the link where you want it in the document.
3. Right click the link.
4. Select “Edit Hyperlink.”
5. In the pop-up window, select the “Text to display” box.
6. Then type the text you want displayed for the link.
7. Click “Ok.”

If you found today’s challenge useful, let us know by tagging #ABD21DayChallenge and #AccessibleByDesign.