Leave Those Links Blue!Get Web Design Tips and Tricks on mps-web-design.com. Leave Those Links Blue! topic will increase your understanding on Web Design Tips and Tricks. We at mps-web-design.com only provide news, articles, information in Web Design Tips and Tricks. Web Design Tips and Tricks at mps-web-design.com provides the most up to date news and articles. If you have questions please do not hesitate to contact us.
We all want to be creative and not do the bland, expected, normal thing. We want to change our links to red, green, yellow, even black--anything but blue. And we have the urge to take off those underlines. Resist the temptation. It's hard. But there's a good reason to leave them alone. From the earliest days of the web, text links have been blue. People intuitively recognize that blue, underlined text is a link. They know they can click on it. The combination of blue and underlines means 'If I click on this, it goes somewhere'. We're conditioned to recognize those distinguishing characteristics. We're like Pavlov's dogs--we see the link and instantly know what it means. There's no time wasted in trying to figure out whether or not that particular word or phrase is clickable. If you mess with the natural appearance of a link, you lose that instant recognition. People have to stop and think (and often click) to figure out what your colors mean. I have watched countless people try to navigate websites and spend half their time figuring out what's a link and what's not. They have no way of knowing. In addition, people scan a page for links. They like to be active on the internet, and they like to know what they can do. When they recognize a link in your copy, it's a clear signal of someplace to go. Visitors want to know what their options are. It's not a good idea to make life difficult. They'll appreciate coming across a site that's easy to use and doesn't try to confuse them (for once!). It is becoming more acceptable to use other colors for your text links, as long as they remain underlined. But if you can, it's still best to use blue. This is because so many people use underlined, colored text on their sites that is NOT linked. Visitors have a tendency to get confused. They never know what to expect. With blue, it's obvious. Some people have brought up the point that if we stick to the status quo, there will never be any improvements in the system. My answer: In a medium like the web, forward movement will never be a problem. The web continues to push ahead, regardless of whether your site jumps on the bandwagon or not. There will always be new growth, no matter what your site does. The question is, when is it appropriate for your site to adopt the latest fads? To answer that question, you must keep in mind your site's purpose and your audience. If your site is technology oriented, and your visitors are technically-minded and on the cutting edge, then going for the latest trend is more appropriate. But if your site is focused on an average web user, it's different. If you're sellling a product/service, communicating information, or driving any specific action, you need to keep your visitors focused on that goal. You shouldn't distract them with trying to learn a new set of skills and standards just so they can navigate your site. Never move faster than your audience is ready to move. At this point in time, people still struggle with being able to recognize links. A majority of people have a difficult time finding what they want. If they are still struggling, your site needs to accomodate them. As more and more people become comfortable with advances in technology and design style, it will be appropriate to incorporate those advances into your site. Just wait until your audience is ready. Final thoughts: If the context of your site makes it clearly obvious what is a link and what is not, it is sometimes permissible to use a color other than blue for your links. For this to work, your copy should have no colored text that isn't linked (with the exception of headings) and no underlined text that isn't linked. Only use another color if you are sure that visitors won't have any trouble recognizing your links. The main point: Visitors shouldn't have to think about what is a link and what isn't. Whatever you can do that maintains instant recognition is great. Go for it!
|
More Articles:1. Use Exclusive Content - When Reprint Articles Don't Do Enough By Hunter Waterhouse There is no doubt that reprint articles can serve lots of search engine traffic to your site... All you have to do is to check your traffic logs and you will see how much traffic finds your site via one of the major search engines, as a result of those reprint articles being located on your website.Sure, you have to give up an outbound link to be able to use the content, but that never really takes value away from your own site. Even if the reader visits the writer's website, the reader … 2. IS YOUR WEB SITE UNFRIENDLY? Part 8 of 9 1. Don't use __'click here'__ for your links (the linkshould be attached to where you want your visitors to go:'Return to __home page__' rather than '__Click here__ toreturn to Home Page'). 'Click here' is meaningless and thevisitor has to keep scanning the text to find the link'scontent--very time-wasting.2. It's a good idea to put the URL of each page on thebottom of the document. This makes it easier for people whohave downloaded your page to disk to revisit it. I oftenfind myself wishing mor… 3. How to Test Your Web Site Usability How to Test Your Web Site Usability Copyright 2002 by Herman Drost When designing a web site, you are never sure how it appears toall people. This is because people use different browsers,resolutions, computers and connection speeds to the Internet.Your site may look good with your browser, but absolutelyhorrendous in other browsers. This is why you should test theusability of your site, before you expose it to the world. What is usability testing?This indicates the ease with which folks can use… 4. Double Your Sales by Improving Your Existing Website By David Cooper If your website has been online for a while and you have been marketing it either through ads or pay-per-click search engines, it is very likely that you already have some traffic coming to your website on a regular basis. I will tell you how to make more sales by simply improving your existing website. If done correctly you will see increase in sales within days. Please note that this article will not provide you with a "Get rich overnight" scheme, so if you are looking for something like tha… |
||||
