Failing P2 on Anchors (Full Version)

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rubyaim -> Failing P2 on Anchors (9/15/2005 2:37:10)

Hi, could use a little advice on a page that is failing Priority 2 (passes 1 and 3) - Cynthia Says.

Failing on Rule: 13.1.2 - All Anchor elements are required not to use the same link text to refer to different resources.

It's a page that lists recent updates to the site and I have used the same text more than once - played around with altering it but it looks silly and I think would make less sense to users (ran a change to the text past my Crash Test User and he did not like it).

I have the updates in a list, something like:

  • 14 Sep 05: Scheduling - Blah Blah Blah.
  • 14 Sep 05: Load WIP - fit out photographs added.
  • 12 Sep 05: Scheduling - Words and things and a link.

So, the link to 'Scheduling' is repeated in several places, as well as a few other links.

Any other ways to handle this? This is sitting on a no-frills nix server - html (& JS) only really.

Thanks - as always [:)]



Nicole -> RE: Failing P2 on Anchors (9/15/2005 2:41:39)

Not sure Sally, have you tried linking to a different part of the Scheduling page each time?



rubyaim -> RE: Failing P2 on Anchors (9/15/2005 2:49:19)

HI Nichole, thanks.

I did give that a go (actually the links do differ most of the time), but it's the actual word 'Scheduling' failing. It passes if I put something like:


  • Schedules Updates
  • And here are the Schedules
  • Take a look at the Scheduling


I think the problem is that I'm not really sure what I'm doing regarding accessibility a lot of the time - what looks fine to me is obviously not [:o]



Nicole -> RE: Failing P2 on Anchors (9/15/2005 3:04:54)

Not that I really know, but it would seem that it's trying to limit the times you link to the same page to one. Maybe its designed that way as a way of stopping people from linking too many times from within the same page. How many sites have you seen sites that link to everything imagineable? Like each time a word is mentioned they link to the page where that word is explained? I've seen it, plenty of times.

If that's the case and that's the reason why, then it seems a little silly because how many times do you see the W3C standards pages linking to everything possible?

Anyway, if that is the reason, then I think you have a reasonable cause to disregard that error message, unless of course I'm wrong or you specifically want to stick an AAA compliant sticker on the page?

HTH

Nicole



Tailslide -> RE: Failing P2 on Anchors (9/15/2005 4:35:38)

Sally

This is from the Horse's Mouth (W3C Guidelines)
quote:


If more than one link on a page shares the same link text, all those links should point to the same resource. Such consistency will help page design as well as accessibility.

If two or more links refer to different targets but share the same link text, distinguish the links by specifying a different value for the "title" attribute of each A element.


Follow these guidelines and see if you have any better luck at Cynthia. If it's still failing you on this point then I'd disregard it. Automated checkers are useful "gross error" checkers but they lack intelligence. It's more important that you've looked at the guidelines and are happy with how you've implemented them.



jaybee -> RE: Failing P2 on Anchors (9/15/2005 5:50:14)

I know, this one confused the heck out of me first time round. It's actually very simple and very sensible but takes a bit of thinking about. What it's basically saying is

If you have a hyperlink to the same place then you can use the same text. If it's to a different place then the text must be different.

As long as the url within the <a href is identical, then the text can be identical as well.

quote:

actually the links do differ most of the time


in this case the text must differ.

If it's different pages then it's obvious. If it's the same page then that page should be broken up into sections with headings on each.

<h1>Scheduling
<h2>Why
<h2>How to
<h2>End result

You then link to the bookmark for each section and your text is the same as the h2

title="Scheduling - Why"
title="Scheduling - How To"



Nicole -> RE: Failing P2 on Anchors (9/15/2005 5:58:19)

Exactly what I was thinking but explained much better!



rubyaim -> RE: Failing P2 on Anchors (9/15/2005 18:44:04)

Thanks so much everyone [:)] Putting in differing titles pleased Cynthia and won't upset any users.

I have a much better understanding of this rule now [:)] It really helps to have others explain things in plain English.

Jaybee - have placed headings onto the main scheduling page as well. When I re-built it I didn't think they were necessary in the context of that page but they do really help.




jaybee -> RE: Failing P2 on Anchors (9/15/2005 18:56:56)

Google likes them too. [;)]



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