Is the title attribute for links needed to match 508?

Question

Is the title attribute for the links needed to match 508, or is there enough text in the link?

Thanks!

Answer 1

508 Standards, Section 1194.22 (a) states that:

A text equivalent is provided for each non-text element

The link is a text element.

Answer 2

Existing Section 508 standards do not contain explicit reference requirements.

Updating these standards is in progress and could bring the standards in line with WCAG 2.0. WCAG 2.0 simply requires the purpose of each link to be understood by users.

The best way to make the purpose of the link understandable is through the semantic text of the link. It is good to supplement the link text with the title attribute if this adds clarity, but this is not required, and the information in the title attribute should not be significant, because if the link text and the title attribute are present, screen readers usually read the default text and ignore the title .

Additional information from the W3C at Understanding SC 2.4.4 (Link Target) and H33: Add link text with title attribute .

Answer 3

This is apparently the last word on accessibility and title attributes for links :

Examples of using the title attribute that are NOT USEFUL OR NOT LIMITED TO APPLICATION:

For additional information not provided as text in a link or surrounding content:

• <a href="newsletter.PDF" title="PDF file, size 1 mb.">newsletter</a>

• Instead, include such information as part of or near the link text.