Students with a range of disabilities need to access resources linked in your chapters. Writing descriptive links ensures that all students can benefit from your content.

Please note: links used in attributions and citations sometimes do not include descriptive text or a destination in brackets according to Creative Commons license statements and citation conventions. The following guidance applies to those resources linked within the chapter content itself.

Create descriptive link text

You need to ensure that chapter links have text that describes the topic or purpose of the link. This is important because people using screen reader software might have their screen reader set to read out the text for each link on a page. As such, the link text must describe the content of the link when taken out of context for the surrounding paragraph. While link texts such as “click here” or “read more” will make sense to sighted users, they mean nothing when read on their own.

Example 1: Click here for information on Open Oregon Educational Resources.

Example 2: You can find more information on Open Oregon Educational Resources at: openoregon.org 

Example 3: Visit Open Oregon Educational Resources [Website] to learn more about what is happening across the state.

While the first two examples make sense in the context of the sentence, neither link text describes the purpose of its link. While the second example is better than the first, having the web address as the link text still does not make the purpose of the link clear. The third example is the most accessible.

Add the link destination in brackets

When incorporating a resource in the body of a chapter, It is best practice to include the destination of a link in the link text itself. This ensures that users know where they are going! It also helps users to decide if they want to select a link at a given time. A streaming video, for example, may require too much bandwidth for their present Internet speed and they might save it for later. Users also may choose not to download a linked file given the device they are currently using. Adding this information helps users make the most of their learning experience.

Here are some examples of how to add link destinations as part of the descriptive text of the link:

•  Designing with Open and Equity-Minded Images by Heather Blicher [Google Slides]
•  Tiny Survival Guide [Online PDF]
• OER Basics from Open Oregon Educational Resources [YouTube Video]

Self-Comprehension Check

After reviewing this page, test your knowledge with the true/false questions below!