RE: Link labels

I suspect links were separated from the label/heading description requirement  because people were thinking ‘form inputs’ when they were talking about ‘labels’.
But there’s a bit more to it. In most cases, there is a really clear and obvious association between <label> and <input>.
What Link purpose provides is an ability to associate the anchor/link with the paragraph in which it abides. So it allows a looser association. Since links are so much more ubiquitous than labels, and most of the time it is not necessary for a user to understand the precise target of a link in order to work with the page (in the same way it is with understanding what a form input is for) it probably seemed like a reasonable allowance back in 2008, moving a more stringent ‘label’ requirement for links to the AAA level.

Part of me has always wanted to apply label much more liberally to make the basic need a bit more global. In many ways, a heading is just a label for the paragraphs that are its children, for example. A column header is a label for the column, etc. The context may change the concision of the description needed, but they all need to fulfil the basic purpose of providing a meaningful, accurate label.

Mike
From: Patrick H. Lauke <redux@splintered.co.uk>
Date: Wednesday, April 10, 2024 at 8:55 AM
To: w3c-wai-ig@w3.org <w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>
Subject: [EXTERNAL] Re: Link labels
Ah yes, oddly enough I've been pondering something along the same lines.

You're right that based on the definition of "label"
https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG22/#dfn-labels  actual link text could well be
seen as the label of a link.

And with that, links would be subject to 2.4.6 Headings and Labels, with
the labels needing to "describe topic or purpose" (though of course
that's a bit handwavy/subjective in itself). And then, that would make
2.4.4 Link Purpose (In Context) and 2.4.9 Link Purpose (Link Only)
redundant (or worse, 2.4.4, which allows context to play a role, would
contradict 2.4.6).

It's ... certainly tricky and one of those weird overlaps.

P
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