Anyways, I thought I'd touch on one of the little nuances of web development that can have a pretty large impact on a website's usability. Link colors and decoration.
Webmasters have always had control over the color of their textual links, via the BODY tag, Then along came CSS and it became the new rage to make textual links look "cool". Of course "coolness" is in the eye of the beholder, and unfortunately many webmasters wound up making their textual links look nearly identical to their regular text, in turn making it difficult for people to spot links that they might be interested in.
Even worse, often there was no way to tell which links the viewer had already visited, causing some visitors to unintentionally view the same page twice, discovering it isn't what they wanted (again), getting frustrated and going elsewhere.
Usability is just as crucial as the content. After all what use is great content if it isn't accessible, sort of like a museum full of masterpieces, except its never open.
Along with slow page loads, a poorly though out navigation scheme, which includes link color and decoration, is one of the reasons people will abandon your site and go elsewhere.
When HTML first evolved into common use, the web browsers of the day came up with a common scheme, and surprisingly all the companies making browsers agreed, and displayed them the same way. Something almost unheard of today.. but I digress.
- There is a reason the default link color is blue and underlined.
- There is a reason the default visited link color is purple.
- There is/was a reason the default active link color is red.
Even the behemoth Google sticks to this standard. Actually they enforce it via CSS, just in case you've twiddled with the browser default's.
Granted, active link color isn't really an issue today. Hopefully the viewer's computer, and the web server you use results in a nearly instantaneous reaction, but back in the day, it was necessary to tell the viewer "we're working on it, keep your shirt on, and don't click the link again !". If your site has an international audience, it's probably still a good idea to make active links stand out, since there is a chance people will repeatedly click a link, which just bogs down your server, and probably frustrates all your viewers.
Of course you needn't use these exact colors, but do make certain your textual links don't blend in too well with your regular text. Also be sure to differentiate between links to pages that the viewer has already seen. I'm also a staunch supporter of leaving links underlined, but that is likely just personal preference.
Until next time HAPPY WEBMASTERING!
Posts
