Link Field Placeholder Text

[ryanleichty]

We handle the default label text for this link field in the template, so the “Out in Nature with Barry Spruce” placeholder shown in the CMS is inaccurate/misleading (in this case it should show “Watch Now“). Would it make sense to add a field to customize the placeholder text shown in link fields (using object templates similar to the Default Title Format field)?

[brandonkelly]

From an accessibility perspective, you generally want to avoid generic link labels like “Watch now”, since they don’t provide any hint of what’s behind the hyperlink. So I don’t think Craft should do anything to enable/encoruage generic link labels like this.

Instead, maybe create a separate “Button Label” Plain Text field, with “Watch Now” placeholder text, and use that for the visually-shown button label.

Make sure you still give the button an accessible hidden label, too, e.g.

{% set ariaLabel = "#{entry.buttonLabel} about #{entry.linkField.label}" %}

<button aria-label="{{ ariaLabel }}">
  {{ entry.buttonLabel }}
</button>

[ryanleichty]

I understand the accessibility side of it, though given the appropriate context I think Learn More or Watch Now are still acceptable labels. E.g.:

The buttons for this form on GitHub are also a good example. The surrounding context provides enough of a clue that I understand that "Cancel" means "Cancel my reply to this thread," or that "Reply" means "Reply to this thread."

The plain text field wouldn't work for what I'm looking for since the default label is dynamic based on the selected entry type.