Forum Moderators: phranque
Personally, I prefer text links over buttons. The search engines and site visitors (faster download times for text over images) do too.
Not only that, when I want to add a new section to the website I do not have to make a new button. And, if the site is dynamically generated then of course buttons only get in the way.
With CSS you can make the text links mimic buttons anyway.
I don't see anything wrong with them.
What I do is I put my buttons on top, either above or below my header or logo, but at the bottom of the pages, I always duplicate them for Google, plus that is where I add my site map, accessible from anywhere in the site.
I've never had penalties, the sites look great, load fast and, best of all they all get good PR's.
:-) SEO
Well, the 'general consensus' seems mixed but here's my take:
It's an evolving medium and although wireless web and checking CNN on your microwave may be a little way off yet, with the potentially *HUGE* variety of devices that can access a site text buttons are the safest bet.
Nick
Without doubt they look at them, however whether they help from an SEO perspective is very unlikely. They were spammed to death a few years ago and as such their effectiveness was downgraded (if not removed).
That said they are ESSENTIAL from a usability perspective. I still know people who surf with images off and find it difficult on some sites as there is no indication of what some button/images meant to do/show.
Use alt tags to help the user, not your search engine placement.
Cheers
Plus text-based navigation loads fast, and with good stylesheets gives users navigational cues via changed link colors. Not a big factor if your site has three pages, but if you have dozens or hundreds, navigational continuity becomes very important. Graphical buttons force visitors to remember what they visited, thereby violating Steve Krug's #1 principle of good web design: "Don't make me think!"
(Steve's book of the same name is excellent. Worth the price 20 times over just for the bargain-basement usability testing section.)
what? - What's overseas to you, and how does that relate to low rez monitors?
Nick
Besides, as I mentioned, if you learn a little CSS you can make text links look and behave like buttons. The advantages far outway the look of most buttons.
Our overseas audience: Namibia, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Brazil, Argentina, Australian outback, etc. When I visited South Africa in 2001, most computers I saw were old by U.S. standards, with small screens. Farm families especially can't afford to upgrade with their exchange rate down...
