RE: New technique: Technique 13.1.1 [priority 2] Verify that the target of each link is clearly identified.

At 2000-02-01 10:27-0500, Michael Cooper wrote:
>What's here looks good. I'd still advocate the check for TITLE attributes of
>links. Here's my thinking -
>
>I never understood what possible reason there would be to have them (I
>thought HTML 4 was just being thorough) until I heard a presentation[1] at a
>conference last year. The presentor, based at the University of Manchester,
>had been doing research into the experience of visually impaired people
>compared to non-visually impaired people, and come up with the notion of the
>importance of "previewing" that sighted people take for granted. The
>suggestion was that the TITLE attribute of links can provide more detailed
>information about what's there than is actually in the link text (which of
>course still needs to be good) and help a user decide whether to follow the
>link.
This may apply with higher priority to external than internal links, since
the cost for the latter traversal and return is minimal. Suggest external P2,
internal P3.

>This is a major benefit to users with screen readers who might otherwise
>follow a link, have to deal with all the navigation stuff at the top etc.
>before they get to the content and discover the page isn't relevant. It also
>helps people who don't want to wait for the download or who read slowly and
>might take time to discover that the page doesn't have what they were
>looking for.

Excellent reason. Thanks for making me aware of its advantages.

>...
>Michael
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: w3c-wai-er-ig-request@w3.org
> > [mailto:w3c-wai-er-ig-request@w3.org]On Behalf Of Wendy A Chisholm
> > Sent: Monday, January 31, 2000 6:58 PM
> > To: w3c-wai-er-ig@w3.org
> > Subject: New technique: Technique 13.1.1 [priority 2] Verify that the
> > target of each link is clearly identified.
> >
> >
> > Michael wrote:
> > <blockquote>
> > Checkpoint 13.1 - Clearly identify the target of each link
> > New Technique: check for common bad link phrases such as "click here".
> > New Technique: check for validated TITLE attribute of link.
> > </blockquote>
> >
> > I propose:
> > <blockquote>
> > Technique 13.1.1 [priority 2] Verify that the target of each link is
> > clearly identified.
> > Discussion Status:
> > awaiting discussion
> > Evaluation:
> > Check for commonly used non-meaningful phrases such as "click here" and
> > "more" as link text.
> > Check that if link text is not unique, duplicates link to the same place.
> > Example Language:
> > Link text should be meaningful enough to make sense when read out of
> > context -- either on its own or as part of a sequence of links. Link text
> > should also be terse.
> > Repair Technique:
> > Retrieve the TITLE of the target page and suggest that as link text.

Presumably this would be done in its absence as a title="value" attribute
that is offering the reference link.

> > </blockquote>
> > --
> > wendy a chisholm

Regards/Harvey Bingham

Received on Saturday, 5 February 2000 23:22:29 UTC