Adding an in-line link to an article

Question

How do I add an in-line link to an article?

Solution

The process is as follows:

1. Copy the link URL that you wish to add in an article.
2. Go to the article you wish to edit and select Edit Article.
3. Highlight the text to that you wish to add a link.
4. Select either the link icon button in the editor toolbar or use the keystroke, Ctrl-L (Windows) or ⌘-L (macOS)
   
5. A dialog box will appear. Paste the link URL into the URL field. The protocol (e.g., HTTPS) will switch automatically.
6. Select the OK button to save.
7. Select either the Save, Save Draft, or Update Article button depending on the article's status.

Best practices

An in-line link is considered accessible if you follow the steps above. The link needs to have two components to follow best practices: a valid URL and readable descriptive link text.

From the success criterion on Link Purpose (In Context) (Level A) from the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1:

The purpose of each link can be determined from the link text alone or from the link text together with its programmatically determined link context, except where the purpose of the link would be ambiguous to users in general.

For example:

• If I were to link this article without a descriptive link text, it would be: https://service.uoregon.edu/TDClient/2030/Portal/KB/ArticleDet?ID=140810
  • While this would be permissible in a print context, it is not in a web context since you can select the link.
• If I were to add a descriptive link text, I would use the article's name: Adding an in-line link to an article
  • This is permissible as it fulfills both requirements of having a valid URL and readable descriptive link text.
• If I were to add a link to an external resource (either outside of the UO Service Portal or outside of UO), I would use both the article's name and the name of the resource.
  • Example: Adding an in-line link to an article (UO Service Portal)
  • Second example: Registration (UO Online)
  • Third example: For more information, see Adding an in-line link to an article in the UO Service Portal.

On vanity URLs

While they are used to communicate to people in both written and spoken form, please refrain from using vanity URLs in knowledge base articles as the URL is already linked to descriptive link text if you're following best practices described above.

For more information on this approach, see Link Purpose (In Context) (Level A) from WCAG.