Link Tiles
There is one Link Tile component that offers three variations of links shown below:
- Text Only, which is text-only with a horizontal line about the text.
- Text + Images, which is sized the same as for Regular, but includes images
- Featured, which is a larger format with images and text.
All variations have required fields of Link text, Link type (internal, external, or email) and the link or email address. For internal links -- links to other pages on your site -- you will select the page from a pull-down menu of published pages. For external links, you will need to add the full URL of the page that is outside your website. For links to email, you will need to select "Email" as the Link Type and a new column titled "Email Address" will appear - here is where you enter the actual email address.
Link Tiles Text Only Style Heading link
Text + Images Link Tiles Heading link
Featured Link Tiles Heading link
Accessibility Requirements Heading link
Title Fields
Titles are required in most components to comply with the rule that headings H1-H6 must be used before a section of content to describe its context. You may select the “Hide Title” option if you don’t want it displayed, however, a site visitor using a screen reader will hear those titles. This means they should be descriptive and unique. If you only enter “Title” for example, the user will hear “title, title, title,” etc. as they tab through your content blocks. They will have no context to know if that is information they should read.
Image Alt Text Fields
Alt text should describe the image for visually impaired users who visit your website and for those whose browsers block images. The text should give a brief description of the image. DO NOT USE phrases like “image of,” “picture of,” or “screenshot of” in your ALT Text. In addition, if you use images that have text in the image itself, that cannot be read by a screen reader. That text should be included in the alt text, a caption or other text near the image.
Link Text
Text links in your content should not use a URL as the link text. It should have meaningful text rather than using “click here” or “read more” Instead, use the page title or a description of the page where the link leads.
Link text that is in context with the content where it is pointing gives all users better information about the purpose of the link.
Users interact with links in various ways, including:
- Screen reader users can generate a list of links and navigate them alphabetically.
- Redundant or ambiguous link text such as “More” is meaningless in this context.
- Users of speech recognition technology can select a link with a voice command like “click” followed by the link text. Therefore it is also helpful to use unique link text that is short and easy to say.
- Users who don’t need assistive technology often skim and scan your content, a link that gives more context can prompt them to click through to the content they seek.
- Meaningful link text may often align with key terms or phrases used by people searching for your site. Using them for link text may improve your SEO.