Guidelines for Visualizing Links
Source Article: http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20040510.html
When traveling on the internet super highway, links are the vehicles that get us where we're going. If we can't see where to click, we don't get there. It can be just that simple. It just makes sense that are links need to be some of the most apparent things on our page.
The most apparent links are colored and underlined. These are conventions that make links very obvious. Links don't always need to be underlined. The navigation bar is one exception and lists of links are another.
Because conventions so clearly identify links with underlines and color, it becomes very important to reserve colors and underlines for links. By using colors for text other than links, they can be easily confused for links. Confusion is bad. If colors are used for other text, one color should be reserved for links and links alone.
It isn't necessary to give hover attributes to make links apparent. When somebody hovers over a link, their cursor changes. That's the hover cue. However, titles are helpful. Used well, they can give users a clear idea of what will happen when they click.
Don't use tiny text for links. They need to be obvious. Small is not obvious. Also, it can cause problems for older viewers or those who have poor eyesight.
It is also important to be able to identify where one has already been. For this, we use seperate attributes for the visited links. The most clear way to accomplish this is the use brighter colors for the unvisited links than the visited ones. The visited links should look dull or used. They should be colors that are clearly related, such as two different shades of blue.
I need to make a few changes on my website to reflect what I have read here. I will abandon the hover attributes used on my regular links. I will also make better titles for my inline text links.
