Apply | Portland State University

Homepage | Portland State University

I Am A Parent | Portland State University

College of the Arts | Portland State University

I Am A Student | Portland State University

I am a PSU Faculty & Staff | Portland State University

First time visit: View without clicking anything

Maseeh College of Engineering & Computer Science | Portland State University

Soy Un Padre de Familia | Portland State University

School of Social Work | Portland State University

Links must be defined in a specific way to be accessed by screen readers, which are used by 
blind and the partially-sighted.

To work with accessibility technologies, links must contain both machine-readable text, and 
a `href` attribute. If a link is not actually
pointing to a page or part of a page, it should be replaced with another semantic element, such
as a `button`, or the `<a>` tag should have a role of `button`. 

For example:

```html
<a href="/about">About us</a>
```

If the link contains _nothing but an image_, that image should specify alternative text, e.g.

```html
<a href="/apple">
    <img src="apple.png" alt="Apple">
</a>
```

Before HTML5, an anchor was often used to create a target to link to, e.g.

```html
<a name="example"></a>
```

This is not supported in HTML5, and the use of anchors for targets is discouraged. Use an `id`
attribute on a non-anchor tag instead, e.g.

```html
<div id="example"> ... </div>
```

Empty links (e.g. `<a></a>`) are often incorrectly used for buttons or controls in a
JavaScript application. In these cases, you should usually define the link as having a more appropriate
role, e.g. as a button. To do this, use the `role` attribute (e.g `<a role="button">`), or replace 
the `<a>` tag with a more appropriate tag, such as `<button>`.

For more details, see [Technique H91](https://www.w3.org/TR/2016/NOTE-WCAG20-TECHS-20161007/H91)
and learn about [ARIA roles](https://www.sitepoint.com/how-to-use-aria-effectively-with-html5/).

bad-anchor

February 2026

January 2026

Portland State University

	Title / URL	Issues
	Apply \| Portland State Universitywww.pdx.edu/admissions/apply	13
	Homepage \| Portland State Universitywww.pdx.edu/	9
	I Am A Parent \| Portland State Universitywww.pdx.edu/parent	9
	College of the Arts \| Portland State Universitywww.pdx.edu/arts/	9
	I Am A Student \| Portland State Universitywww.pdx.edu/student	9
	I am a PSU Faculty & Staff \| Portland State Universitywww.pdx.edu/faculty-staff	9
	First time visit: View without clicking anythingwww.pdx.edu/	9
	Maseeh College of Engineering & Computer Science \| Portland State Universitywww.pdx.edu/engineering/	8
	Soy Un Padre de Familia \| Portland State Universitywww.pdx.edu/padres	6
	School of Social Work \| Portland State Universitywww.pdx.edu/social-work/	6

Ensure links can be used by screen readers

Portland State University

Where this issue has occurred