[WEB4LIB] Re: Web design question

[Thomas Dowling]

> >
> > One example he provided was the blue "link" color, which he argues is
a
> > poor color choice in terms of readability.  However, because it is
> > essentially a standard, a site that uses other colors will suffer in
> > usability because web users are conditioned to view blue colored text
as
> > hyperlinks.
>
> 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!
>


One of the first user-configurable settings on any graphical browser was
the option to turn off link underlining, an option I've been taking since
the earliest days of XMosaic.  I respect your preference, but I find that
lots of underlining reduces readability, especially since browsers tend to
underline with little sensitivity for how they obscure text.  I remember
word processors in the 80's that could figure out how to break underlines
around descenders, but then it's no suprise that current browsers are not
the most sophisticated text layout engines.

The moral of the story is that you can't really know how links appear on
your user's screen.  Links need to be immediately obvious without
overpowering all the other text on the screen, and about the only
assumption you can make is that users "get" this from their current
browser settings.  Fool around with underlining and color settings at your
peril, and with the understanding that what you change may be the user's
only visual clue that this is a link.

I've seen a lot of sites recently that either make the links the same
color as the text, or make arbitrary bits of text the same color as links.
You want to play Hide The Links with me?  Fine, then I won't follow them.



  <p>At the readability test, Nina said the Three Clam Opera was
  <span style="text-decoration: underline; font-family: sans-serif">
  A bevy of poor jilted quahogs</span>.</p>

Thomas Dowling
OhioLINK - Ohio Library and Information Network
tdowling at ohiolink.edu