Academics | The University of Virginia

Faculty & Staff | The University of Virginia

Apply | The University of Virginia

Affording UVA | The University of Virginia

Sports & Recreation | The University of Virginia

Consumer Information | The University of Virginia

Graduate Studies | The University of Virginia

The Arts | The University of Virginia

Admission | The University of Virginia

Facts & Figures | The University of Virginia

Do not link to an anchor on the page that does not exist. For example:
linking to `#content` without a valid destination such as `<body id="content"></body>`.

A common web design pattern is to use a named anchor to show an element via JavaScript, e.g.

```html
<a href="#foo" onclick="$('.bar').toggle();">Click me</a>
<div class="bar">
    This is some content.
</div>
``` 

In these cases, the anchor (`#foo`) should point to the `id` of the hidden element:

```html
<a href="#foo" onclick="$('#foo').toggle();">Click me</a>
<div id="foo">
    This is some content.
</div>
```

This way the semantic intent of the link is preserved, even without JavaScript. 
Note that doing so may require modification to your script, to prevent automatic 
scrolling to the named anchor.

linking-to-anchor-on-page-that-does-not-exist

January 2026

December 2025

University of Virginia

Title / URL	Issues
Academics \| The University of Virginiawww.virginia.edu/academics/	1
Faculty & Staff \| The University of Virginiawww.virginia.edu/facultystaff/	1
Apply \| The University of Virginiawww.virginia.edu/apply/	1
Affording UVA \| The University of Virginiawww.virginia.edu/life/affordinguva/	1
Sports & Recreation \| The University of Virginiawww.virginia.edu/life/recreation/	1
Consumer Information \| The University of Virginiawww.virginia.edu/consumerinfo/	1
Graduate Studies \| The University of Virginiawww.virginia.edu/academics/graduate/	1
The Arts \| The University of Virginiawww.virginia.edu/story/arts/	1
Admission \| The University of Virginiawww.virginia.edu/life/	1
Facts & Figures \| The University of Virginiawww.virginia.edu/facts/	1

Avoid linking to anchors that do not exist

University of Virginia

Where this issue has occurred