PDF/UA-1 · CLAUSE 7.18.5

Link is not tagged or has no description

A link annotation is not tagged as a Link element with an object reference, or has no Contents entry describing where it goes.

Rule 7.18.5-2 ISO 14289-1 Object: PDLinkAnnot

Why it matters

Screen reader users listing links hear a raw URL or nothing meaningful, so they cannot tell links apart out of context.

How to fix it

  • Tag links with a Link element containing both the link text and an OBJR reference to the annotation.
  • Set the Contents entry to a short description of the link target.
  • Write descriptive link text in the source document instead of 'click here' or a bare URL.
WCAG 2.4.4 Link Purpose (In Context) (A)

What the standard says

Links shall contain an alternate description via their Contents key as described in ISO 32000-1:2008, 14.9.3

Check your own PDF

Validate a file against PDF/UA-1 and see whether this rule fails in your document.

curl -sS -X POST "https://api.ua1.dev/api/validate?format=compact&profile=ua1" \
  -F "file=@document.pdf"