Why “Click Here” and Fake Lists Aren’t Accessible

April 2026 marks the federal deadline for digital accessibility under ADA Title II. At UC Davis, our commitment to accessibility will honor both the mandate and our Principles of Community as we remove barriers for all learners. Part of a series to be published during the fall of 2025, this post explores what accessibility means in practice and ways we can all contribute. Find all the posts in this series by clicking the yellow "Quick Access" label at the end of the post.

For more on campus compliance with this law, see UC Davis Digital Accessibility Program Manager Brad Starkey-Owens’ conversation on digital accessibility with Dr. Andy Jones and check the campus Accessibility site. Also consider joining the UC Accessibility Project or registering for the Universal Design for Learning Institute this fall (held each Friday this fall at 10:30AM on Zoom) for additional accessibility support.

Screen readers are tools that read text aloud to blind and low-vision users and others who benefit from listening. Screen reader users navigate the web by pulling up a list of all the links on a page. That’s why the wording you choose for hyperlinks really matters.

If you paste in an unshortened web address, the screen reader will read every character in that URL. Not helpful! The same goes for vague link text like “click here” or “more.” If a page has multiple links, the screen reader user will just hear “Click here, click here, click here.” Imagine trying to figure out which site you’d actually hope to visit.

Instead, make link text specific and unique. For example, use “View the syllabus,” “Log in,” or “Return to homepage.” Now, when someone listens through the list of links, each one tells them exactly where it leads. This tip applies not only to Canvas, but also to websites, Google Docs, Word, Zoom, Slack, and social media. An exception is print material; because the link can’t be clicked on a printed handout, write out the full URL.

Just as descriptive link text provides clarity, so does proper list formatting. If you type dashes, asterisks, or numbers, sighted users see the pattern—but screen reader users just hear plain text. When you use built-in list tools (or HTML tags like <ul>, <ol>, <li>), then assistive technology can announce, “List of four items” and let users move easily among them.

Best practices:

• Use bullets when order doesn’t matter and numbers when it does (for example, use bullets for a shopping list and numbers for instructions).
• Avoid “fake lists” (when you type symbols or numbers manually instead of using the built-in list feature). These look fine visually, but screen readers won’t recognize them as lists. That’s why they fail accessibility checks under WCAG’s “Info and Relationships.”