November 11, 2026
Open your own website on a phone. Try to call, send a text, and get directions — without typing a number, an address, or an email. Count the taps.
If you have to highlight the number, copy it, switch apps, and paste, the link isn’t doing its job. One tap should be enough.
Make the number a real link
A phone number on a website only dials if it’s a real link. In HTML, that’s a tel: link on an anchor element — the same element used for ordinary web links. On a phone, tapping it opens the dialer with the number already filled in.
A number set in a photo, a logo, or a background image usually can’t be tapped. The same is true of a number typed as plain text, with no link around it. Some phones will notice a number and offer to dial it, but you shouldn’t count on that.
Put the number in the header or the footer, on every page, not only on the contact page. Someone who lands on a service page shouldn’t have to hunt for a way to call you.
Make it big enough to hit with a work glove
A link that exists still has to be easy to hit. Someone standing by a truck, maybe wearing gloves, is not working with a mouse and a large screen.
WCAG 2.2 Level AA sets a minimum tap target of 24×24 CSS pixels (Success Criterion 2.5.8, Target Size (Minimum)). The stricter Level AAA (Success Criterion 2.5.5, Target Size (Enhanced)) asks for 44×44. MDN’s page on the HTML anchor element also recommends a minimum of 44×44 CSS pixels.
Don’t bury the call button in a tight row of tiny icons. Give it space, and make the tappable area at least as big as that 44-pixel box — even if the visible number looks larger than the actual hit area.
Offer text and email only if you answer them
A tel: link is the start. You can also add an sms: link for text messages and a mailto: link for email. Add only the channels you actually answer. A text link that goes nowhere is worse than no text link.
For directions, link the address so it opens in a maps app. And put your hours next to the number. Someone calling after you close should see that before they wait through a voicemail they didn’t expect.
A two-minute self-check
Take two minutes and run this on your own phone, then on someone else’s. Phones and browsers don’t all treat numbers the same way.
- Open the site in a private or incognito tab, on cellular if you can.
- From the home page, and from one interior page, try to place a call, send a text, and get directions without typing anything.
- Count the taps. If it takes more than three, or if you have to copy and paste, fix the link and the size before you change anything else.
If the rest of the site is hard to use on a phone, see Your website should work on a truck’s phone signal.