i

Link

Navigating · researched

Text that takes a person to another page, place or resource.

atom

Each block is the real component from that system’s own package, in an isolated frame. They are live: hover, focus and press them. Frames are drawn on white so systems compare on one ground, and a font a system licenses only for its own site (GOV.UK’s Transport) falls back to what the system itself specifies.

Ant Design

Typography.Link subset native: yes antd 6.6.5
Variants
—
Sizes
—
States documented
—
Accessibility guidance
no

Real exported component (renders an a element) but the Typography page documents only Text, Title and Paragraph APIs; Link appears only in a demo title. Low confidence it counts as documented.

docs ↗ · code ↗

Carbon

Link native: yes @carbon/react 1.117.0
Variants
Standalone, Inline
Sizes
small, medium, large
States documented
default, hover, focus, active, disabled
Accessibility guidance
yes

Renders a native a element (a custom base component can be passed). Docs also list a visited state. Back link and skip link are not separate components.

1 corrected on re-read
  • urls: {"docs_url":"https://carbondesignsystem.com/components/link/usage/","code_url":"https://github.com/carbon-design-system/carbon/tree/main/packages/react/src/components/Link"} → {"docs_url":"https://www.carbondesignsystem.com/building-blocks/core/components/link/guidelines","code_url":"https://github.com/carbon-design-system/carbon/tree/main/packages/react/src/components/Link"} curl -L: HTTP 200 for both; docs_url redirects to this final URL

docs ↗ · code ↗

GOV.UK

Back link; Skip link subset native: yes govuk-frontend 6.5.1
Variants
default, inverse
Sizes
—
States documented
default
Accessibility guidance
yes

No general link component: links are a CSS class (govuk-link) on the Links style page. Two components exist for specific links, Back link and Skip link, both a single a element.

1 corrected on re-read
  • a11y_documented: "no" → "yes" Back link 'Known issues and gaps' covers accessibility-checker landmark warnings

docs ↗ · code ↗

Material Web

absentMaterial Web does not ship this component. Nothing is drawn in its place.

Checked docs/components (22 files: button, checkbox, chip, dialog, divider, elevation, fab, focus-ring, icon-button, icon, list, menu, progress, radio, ripple, select, slider, switch, tabs, text-field), the repo top-level and labs directories, and docs/roadmap.md. No link component. Anchors appear only as an href option on button, list item, menu item and chip, rendering an anchor inside those components.

Primer

Link native: yes @primer/react 38.40.1
Variants
muted, inline
Sizes
—
States documented
default, hover
Accessibility guidance
yes

Renders a native a by default (polymorphic via as). muted and inline are boolean props, not named variants.

docs ↗ · code ↗

Spectrum

Link native: yes @spectrum-web-components/button 1.12.4
Variants
primary, secondary
Sizes
—
States documented
default, hover, focus, active
Accessibility guidance
yes

Variants and states from the SWC page text, which has no data file; staticColor (black, white) and isQuiet are options. Native check: SWC 1st-gen sp-link wraps a native anchor (LikeAnchor), SWC 2nd-gen link is CSS classes on a native a href with no component, and S2 Link renders a React Aria a (span when no href).

docs ↗ · code ↗

USWDS

Link native: yes @uswds/uswds 3.14.0
Variants
.usa-link--external
Sizes
—
States documented
default, hover, focus
Accessibility guidance
yes

Native a. A skip link ships as the usa-skipnav package but has no component page of its own (the URL /components/skipnav/ returns 404); the Header page covers it.

docs ↗ · code ↗

Platform facts

Native elementa (with href)Spec a content model: transparent, no interactive-content descendants. Attributes: href, target, download, ping, rel, hreflang, type, referrerpolicy. If href is absent the element is a placeholder and those attributes must be omitted. APG: authors strongly encouraged to use a native a element with href; the link role does not add navigation behaviour. MDN Accessibility: link text, onclick misuse with bogus href, skip links, size and proximity.
Baselinewidely · 2015-07-29
APG patternlink
ARIA rolelink
Shipped by6 of 7 systems

Anatomy

  1. link text — APG: the element containing the link text or graphic has role link. MDN: strong link text is an accessibility rule.
  2. href — Spec: without href the a element is a placeholder, not a hyperlink. href is an attribute, not a visual part; listed because it decides whether the element is a link.

Keys the APG binds

  • EnterExecutes the link and moves focus to the link target.
  • Shift + F10 (Optional)Opens a context menu for the link.

The seven states

default Idle link; visited/unvisited appearance is CSS and not defined by APG or MDN a page text read.
hover Pointer-only CSS state; not defined by APG or HTML.
focus Reachable by Tab when it has href; MDN skip-link example uses .skip-link:focus.
active CSS :active during activation.
disabled n/a — Neither spec nor APG defines disabled for a link; an a without href is a placeholder.
error n/a — Not defined.
loading n/a — Not defined.

Every cell was read twice, the second time from raw sources by a separate pass. 2 of 35 fields changed on the second read — open any “corrected” note to see what it said before.