Accessibility: better place to place tabindex=-1 to avoid duplicate links? - html

Question

This question is about Accessibility.
Here is my code:
<a href="https://example.com/url-to-details">
<img src="https://example.com/item.png" alt="some description">
</a>
some description
It's not perfect, as we know we should avoid Adjacent links go to the same URL (this is what the WAVE accessibility tool says for me on my webpage about this piece of code).
With another words, the problem here is you use th Tab key consequently and still appear on the same link. This is not perfect.
My solution is to set tabindex="-1" for one of the links.
So, my questions are:
1. is it a good idea, or you have a better approach?
2. Which code is better from the Accessibility point of view:
<a href="https://example.com/url-to-details" tabindex="-1">
<img src="https://example.com/item.png" alt="some description">
</a>
some description
or
<a href="https://example.com/url-to-details">
<img src="https://example.com/item.png" alt="some description">
</a>
some description
P.S. There is a 3rd approach: to unite two <a></a><a></a> into one such as <a> picture + some description</a>, but I would avoid it for some reasons.
P.P.S. The description text "some description" is equal for both the image description and the text in the anchor tag.

Answer 1

I don't see a use case for having both an image link and an adjacent textual link that use the same URL. It should be a single link, so you have three options:
get rid of the image link,
get rid of the textual link,
combine the image and the text into a single link, where the image has an empty alt attribute:
<img src="https://example.com/item.png" alt=""> some description
In the third case, the alt attribute should be empty in order to avoid duplication of text (screen reader users don't want to hear the link text twice). This also results in simpler code that does not rely on tabindex="-1". See also WCAG Technique H2: Combining adjacent image and text links for the same resource.
Note that using two adjacent links, both with the href attribute and one of them having tabindex=-1, as proposed in the question, will result in both links being listed in a screen reader's list of links. This duplication should be avoided.

Answer 2

Assuming that your alt description should be equal to your link text is a misguided approach, in my opinion.
Let's say you are designing a products list page for an online store.
If the link goes to a product detail page, then the link text should describe that detail page. However, the image alt should describe the image itself, not the detail page.
.link {
display: flex;
flex-direction: column;
align-items: center;
}
<a class="link" href="https://www.mywebsite.org/detail-page-100">
<img class="link-img" src="https://picsum.photos/200" alt="2 puppies running through a meadow in the summer sun">
<span class="link-desc">Buy organic pet food - 5kg</span>
</a>

Answer 3

The tabindex only changes the keyboard order, but screen reader will still announce the same link twice.
Making the img clickable using javascript will avoid annoying keyboard users or screenreader users, letting mouse users click on the image itself.

Answer 4

From a purely WCAG accessibility point of view, nothing has to change in the original code. That fact that WAVE points it out is just an artifact of that tool. It's not an error, but an "alert" (in WAVE terms). The doc for WAVE says this about "alerts":
The goal should not be to get rid of all icons, except for the errors. Alerts will require close scrutiny - the[y] likely represent an end user issue.
The key being that alerts are "end user" issues, meaning usability or user experience issues. Not accessibility failures.
So, if you're trying to comply to WCAG AA, having a redundant link is not a failure and does not have to be fixed. But if you're looking at the user experience, reducing the number of tab stops and links that point to the same destination is always a good thing.
How you fix that issue seems to be the crux of the OP. When two links that are adjacent point to the same location, the best way is to combine the links into one. Adding tabindex="-1" to one is generally a bad idea because that only affects keyboard users and not screen reader users.

Answer 5

I would keep them both, because if a person using a screen reader is tabbing through your website you would like them to hear the image description as well as the text in the anchor tag.
The correct answer is - it depends.
If your image better describes your link, then use the image.
If your anchor tag better describes it - then use the <a>.
Some info for tabindex
Please see all the accessibility you can add to a link here