k10

Obvious links at a glance

Site Genre: Pattern Group k

magnify imageFigure K10.1 Note how quickly you can determine on LUGNET’s site which links have already been visited and which have not. Pages that use colors other than blue for links can be confusing because visitors have to learn new rules..

Background

Text links can come in the form of NAVIGATION BARS (K2), LOCATION BREAD CRUMBS (K6), EMBEDDED LINKS (K7), and EXTERNAL LINKS (K8). However, it is not always clear which text on a Web page is a link. Most of your customers will know that a blue underlined link is an unvisited link. It’s possible to change this color or remove the underline, but doing so comes with the risk of confusing some of your customers. This pattern describes the advantages of sticking with blue underlined links and discusses some of the trade-offs.

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PROBLEM

It’s not always clear which bits of text are clickable links.

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SOLUTION

magnify image Figure K10.4 Stick with blue underlined text for hyperlinks.

Use blue underlined text for hyperlinks. Avoid using blue or underlining for anything other than Web links. Make links more attractive by using different font sizes and styles. Use the

Other Patterns to Consider

NAVIGATION BARS (K2) are one place where blue underlined links don’t always make sense. People know they can click on certain things on a Web page, and navigation bars have become so common that it’s not always necessary to make such text blue and underlined. Use obvious links with EMBEDDED LINKS (K7), EXTERNAL LINKS (K8), and LOCATION BREAD CRUMBS (K6) to make them all easier to see. Use obvious links with FAMILIAR LANGUAGE (K11) and DESCRIPTIVE, LONGER LINK NAMES (K9) to make them easier to understand. As an alternative to obvious links, use ACTION BUTTONS (K4), but only sparingly and only when you need customers to take a specific action. Graphical buttons take up more space and can take longer to download. Using obvious links can make access to your Web site easier for people who are blind and for people who use mobile phones to connect to the Internet. For these reasons, obvious links improve your SITE ACCESSIBILITY (B9).

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