[WEB4LIB] underlining on or off on public web stations

[Avi Rappoport]

At 11:40 AM -0800 3/4/1999, Miriam Bobkoff wrote:
> Probably because I myself find underlinings visually confusing, all our
> public access web browsers are set up to display with the links not
> underlined (and with IKiosk preventing the users from changing the
> settings). One of our patrons who works with computers has strongly
> suggested that underlined links would be easier for newbies to understand.
>
> Opinions? If you have locked the display settings on your browsers, did you
> lock the underlinings on or off?

Underlining links is a standard on the web, and something that most 
users are thoroughly familiar with.  In addition to HTML, Windows 
Help uses the underlines to indicate linked text.  As some people are 
also color-blind and can't recognize color cues, I'd strongly 
recommend leaving the settings as default, rather than changing them.

There has been a long debate on the CHI-Web (computer-human 
interface) discussion list on this topic lately, and while there has 
been no universal agreement, I think the consensus is that underlines 
should be allowed.

Avi

________________________________________________________________
Avi Rappoport, Search Tools Maven: <mailto:avirr at lanminds.com>
Guide to Site Indexing and Local Search Engines: <http://www.searchtools.com>