Text Links Standards v2.1
1. Requirements
1.1. Link text MUST describe the destination of the link.
1.2. Title attributes SHOULD ONLY be used when the link's text does not fully describe the destination of that link.
1.3. A text link's title-attribute SHOULD further describe the destination of the link and MUST NOT only repeat the link's text (refer to the Textual Equivalent Standards for more information).
1.4. Example: If you roll over a text link that says "Email News". The title-attribute will say "Subscribe to the BBC's News Email."
1.5. Link text MUST be meaningful out of context e.g. do not use "More", "Further Information", "Visit", "Watch Now", "Download" or "Click Here". You MAY hide further descriptive text in a manner that can be found by screenreaders.
1.6. You MUST NOT use the URL as link text, UNLESS displaying dynamic contents (such as search results) where there is no alternative, or in links from within emails to BBC sites.
2. Making links selectable
2.1. A text link SHOULD have sufficient space around it for the user to be able to accurately select the link, particularly where several links appear together.
2.2. You SHOULD have a minimum of four pixels padding around a link; or equivalent, given your chosen units of measurement.
3. Making links self-evident
3.1 Links MUST be clearly identifiable and distinguishable from surrounding text, by use of a presentation or context cue.
3.1.1 A presentation cue MUST be one or both of these:
- bold and underlined
- a different colour (all colours used MUST comply with colour contrast standards, including being visible to colour blind users).
3.1.2 A context cue is when a link's position e.g. left-hand navigation or related links box conveys that it is clickable. In these cases use of bold is sufficient however visual elements SHOULD be used to indicate their significance, e.g. graphics or bullets.
3.2 You MUST use a mouse-over state-change to indicate that a piece of text is a link. This MAY be either an underline or a change of colour. Underlines SHOULD NOT disappear on mouse-over UNLESS the link is a graphic and has some other graphic form indicating a change of state.
3.3 Your visited link colour SHOULD be different from the non-visited links' colour. This colour difference MUST be evident to colour blind users (see Viz check).
4. Examples of context
Example 1: Category contents panel
Text in category contents panels like this example (e.g. a bold heading, plus a comma-delimited list) will be assumed by the user to be links, as these are often used on bbc.co.uk portal pages.
Example 2: Left-navigation region
The left-navigation region is used to hold local and global navigation links. Thus any text in this region will be assumed by the user to be a link.
Example 3: Right navigation
Links that relate to the copy in the main content area may be listed in a right-navigation panel. These links should be a list, under a heading.
5. Triggers
This standard may be extended to also give:
- Guidance on how links should look & feel in graphical & multimedia (non-HTML) content in future.
- Standards for providing visual cues for external / internal links.
6. Document history
| Date | Version | Change | Author |
|---|---|---|---|
| 25/01/2010 | v2.2 | Clarification of clause 3.1, colour may be used to represent links but all colours used must pass colour contrast and colour blindness standards. | Ed Lee |
| 22/12/2009 | v2.1 | Reworking of clause 3. Clarification of rules around presentation of links. | Ed Lee |
| 17/11/2008 | v2.0.1 | Minor revisions to remove usage of the term bbc.co.uk. | Victoria Jolliffe |
| 12/2006 | v2.0 | Completely revised | Gareth Ford Williams |
| 21/02/2005 | v1.11 | Updates after Design Forum on 18/02/2005 | Jonathan Hassell |
| 28/01/2005 | v1.08 | Added comments to begin review/update process | Sally Underwood |
| 06/02/2003 | v1.06 | Incorporating changes from Adam Powers’v2 document, and results of voting on BBC HTML-Discuss re spawning windows to show external links. | Jonathan Hassell |
| 19/08/2002 | v1.05 | Added audience into footer | Jonathan Hassell |
| 19/08/2002 | v1.04 | Done an initial edit to remove all iF&L and historical aspects of the document (still could do with some work…) | Jonathan Hassell |
| 17/08/2002 | v1.03 | Checked all contacts are abstracted into contacts file | Jonathan Hassell |
| 16/08/2002 | v1.02 | Renamed as appendix C. Checked document for all inter-document links. | Jonathan Hassell |
| 15/08/2002 | v1.01 | Reformatted iF&L’s doc for inclusion in Web Dev Guidelines | Jonathan Hassell |
Document editor: Editor, Standards & Guidelines. If you have any comments, questions or requests relating to this document, please contact the Editor, Standards & Guidelines.
Like all other Future Media Standards & Guidelines, this page is updated on a regular basis, through the process described on About Standards & Guidelines.
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