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anchor-ambiguous-text

Enforces <a> values are not exact matches for the phrases "click here", "here", "link", "a link", or "learn more". Screenreaders announce tags as links/interactive, but rely on values for context. Ambiguous anchor descriptions do not provide sufficient context for users.

Rule details

This rule takes one optional object argument with the parameter words.

{
  "rules": {
    "jsx-a11y/anchor-ambiguous-text": [2, {
      "words": ["click this"],
    }],
  }
}

The words option allows users to modify the strings that can be checked for in the anchor text. Useful for specifying other words in other languages. The default value is set by DEFAULT_AMBIGUOUS_WORDS:

const DEFAULT_AMBIGUOUS_WORDS = ['click here', 'here', 'link', 'a link', 'learn more'];

The logic to calculate the inner text of an anchor is as follows:

  • if an element has the aria-label property, its value is used instead of the inner text
  • if an element has aria-hidden="true, it is skipped over
  • if an element is <img /> or configured to be interpreted like one, its alt value is used as its inner text

Note that this rule still disallows ambiguous aria-label or alt values.

Note that this rule is case-insensitive and trims whitespace. It only looks for exact matches.

Succeed

<a>read this tutorial</a> // passes since it is not one of the disallowed words
<a>${here}</a> // this is valid since 'here' is a variable name
<a aria-label="tutorial on using eslint-plugin-jsx-a11y">click here</a> // the aria-label supersedes the inner text

Fail

<a>here</a>
<a>HERE</a>
<a>click here</a>
<a>link</a>
<a>a link</a>
<a> a link </a>
<a><span> click </span> here</a> // goes through element children
<a>a<i></i> link</a>
<a><i></i>a link</a>
<a><span aria-hidden="true">more text</span>learn more</a> // skips over elements with aria-hidden=true
<a aria-label="click here">something</a> // the aria-label here is inaccessible
<a><img alt="click here"/></a> // the alt tag is still ambiguous
<a alt="tutorial on using eslint-plugin-jsx-a11y">click here</a> // the alt tag is only parsed on img

Accessibility guidelines

Ensure anchor tags describe the content of the link, opposed to simply describing them as a link.

Compare

<p><a href="#">click here</a> to read a tutorial by Foo Bar</p>

which can be more concise and accessible with

<p>read <a href="#">a tutorial by Foo Bar</a></p>

Resources

  1. WebAIM, Hyperlinks
  2. Deque University, Link Checklist - 'Avoid "link" (or similar) in the link text'