ggrot - 1:32 am on Aug 4, 2001 (gmt 0)

I've tried using all black text on a page with link colored blue links...no underlines.

There are very few people that can't see the difference between black and blue (most color blind is blue/green).

The familiar blue color is a dead giveaway that the word is a hyperlink. If that isnt enough, the hover underlines in blue and highlights the link in yellow. No studies, but no complaints either. Personally, I think it makes the page neater(as in clean or sharp looking).

If you really wanted to do a study, do session based cloaking. When a user visits the site, randomly mark them with a cookie...underline or no underline. Then track the number of pages that user views as well as the purchase amount. Both values are important. It definitely beats having a time (week to week) variable thrown in there as well.