Use of underlining (was "Web design question")

John C Harvey jharvey at irving.lib.tx.us
Thu Dec 16 09:49:45 EST 1999


Pam Davies wrote (in reference to Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox):

> I found it very surprising that although he mentioned the color as a
> "standard" he didn't mention underlining of text as an even more
> standard "here is a link" indicator.  Some colour  changes are too
> subtle to be noticed easily, especially in a "light" type like larger
> fonts of Arial, making links very tricky to spot.  I have no problem
> with the choice of colour for links, but I prefer them underlined!

Hear, hear.

I would just add that if you're using underlining for links, then you
shouldn't use it for anything else.

When I see something underlined, I expect it to be a hyperlink. If I
haven't had my tea yet, I can spend a couple of minutes clicking on
simple underlined text, wondering why nothing's happening. 8^>

----(Imagine a fancy inline graphic here.)----

John C Harvey
jharvey at irving.lib.tx.us

"There must be more to life than having everything."
--Maurice Sendak

The views and opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect
official policies of the Irving Public Library or the City of Irving.

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