Some of the readings this semester have been so valuable in terms of the simple advice they offer regarding topics I otherwise would have never considered or thought about much. For example Jakob Nielsen’s piece on Visualizing Links was fascinating. I take it for granted that I understand which text on a webpage will contain a hyperlink, usually because of a subtle change, such as color or a text decoration. These are precisely the alterations Nielsen highlights as essential to making one’s content easily recognizable.
I wanted to see just how true this was on the web, so I visited the top ten most visited sites in the world according to Alexa. Here is what I found.
Yahoo- Links are colored but only underline on hover.
MSN- Links are colored but only underline on hover.
Google- Links are colored and underlined.
YouTube- Links are colored and underlined.
myspace- Links are colored but only underline on hover.
Windows Live- Mixed some color and underline, some color only with underline on hover.
Baidu- Links are colored and underlined.
Orkut- Links are colored and underlined.
qq.com- Most links are colored and underlined, some are neither.
Wikipedia- Links are colored but only underline on hover.
Everything Nielsen talks about plays out as true on these sites. Some lack color and underlines on site navigation links, but it is clear by the design that these are menu bars with links to other sections of the site. But it is obvious from examining the sites that consistently have the most eyes on them, that people are becoming used to seeing material on the web in a certain presentation. For example, not only is there a consistency in the decoration on the above sites, but nearly all of them use blue as the color for the links. That is somewhat remarkable when you think about it.
Really, presenting material on the web is often very similar to more traditional methods of publishing. Luke Wroblewski drives this home by examining the organization of a circus poster with regard to how its information will be consumed and understood. As much as we may want the content to speak for itself on the site, the visual presentation, organization, and overall architecture is going to be just as important in making a clear argument via a webpage. Just another important facet of web design to be conscious of going forward.
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Interesting test you ran Ken. I was wondering when I was working on my own links just how they might fit in with other sites. I do a color and a dotted underline, which I think makes them pretty obvious so they contrast with everything else. I’m amazed at how many have gone the route of a color and only underline on a hover…what’s the rationale behind this do you think?
Ken, thanks for doing a little research into site design. That’s a very interesting finding and only serves to remind me that web “standards” become standards because they are a good idea!