Signs it is time to revisit descriptive link text

The version of this that works is simpler than the version most people imagine. A few signals that descriptive link text is due some attention.

Most of it is correctness rather than charity: use the right element and much of it happens automatically. It rarely shows up as a line item, which is exactly why it slips.

The signals

• Nobody can say when it was last reviewed
• The answer depends on who you ask
• Links are often read out of context
• "Read more" tells nobody anything

What good looks like

Say where the link goes. This is the sort of thing that compounds, quietly, in both directions. The practical test is whether someone new to the project could tell, in a minute, that it had been handled.

What this looks like day to day

Accessibility work almost always improves the experience for people who have no impairment at all. Three things worth confirming about descriptive link text before you move on:

• Someone can say what the current setup is without going to look
• Say where the link goes — and you know whether that is true here
• There is a way to tell whether the last change to this helped

None of this needs a rewrite. Most of it is a morning's work once someone decides to do it.