k9

Descriptive, longer link names at a glance

Site Genre: Pattern Group k

magnify imageFigure K9.1 CNET News.com’s links clearly describe where customers will go if they click on them.

Background

From MULTIPLE WAYS TO NAVIGATE (B1) we know that customers will be navigating your site using NAVIGATION BARS (K2), BROWSABLE CONTENT (B2), EXTERNAL LINKS (K8), and CONSISTENT SIDEBARS OF RELATED CONTENT (I6). Poorly worded text links can be confusing. This pattern describes how descriptive and longer link names can guide visitors to the right place easily.

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PROBLEM

Text hyperlinks must be made predictable and understandable in terms of the Web pages to which they link. Otherwise, when browsing, customers will repeatedly follow links, arrive at something that doesn’t interest them, and continually pogo back and forth in frustration.

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SOLUTION

magnify image Figure K9.4 Use descriptive, longer link names to link to other content pages.

Use descriptive, longer link names that act as a preview of the linked page. Create the link name by summarizing the linked page in a few words. Use familiar language, and differentiate links that have similar names. Finally, make sure that any links with long names that word-wrap are clearly differentiated from other links.

Other Patterns to Consider

Write descriptive, longer link names in FAMILIAR LANGUAGE (K11). Use them with OBVIOUS LINKS (K10) to make it clear they’re links that customers can click on. EMBEDDED LINKS (K7) also benefit from descriptive, longer link names. It’s easy to create link names for pages with content written in an INVERTED-PYRAMID WRITING STYLE (D7) because the title is usually a good summary of the content. Improve SITE ACCESSIBILITY (B9) with better link names so that customers with limited access can jump over and navigate through links without having to move slowly through an entire page.

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