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  7. Are links taking the user...

Are links taking the user to a new context?

Goal

Ensure that links are designated semantically according to their function.

Why this matters

Links go places. Buttons do things. Don’t use links when you should be using buttons.

How to implement

Confirm the element you should be using is a link, then the instructions in <a>: The Anchor Element on MDN’s website.

How to test

Manual testing

Right-click the link and inspect the element to ensure that it is properly encoded in an <a> tag with an href attribute.

Automated testing

HTML validators should report back an error if the <a> element is parsing incorrectly or missing key attributes. Note that validators cannot determine if an <a> element should actually be a button.