Survey of Link Colors and Characteristics

does it pay to change the default colors for links

[Ed_Gibbon]

We all know that we can change the way links are displayed by changing the colors and other characteristics (underline, bold, italics, etc) of links as they are displayed on the page and depending on whether they have been visited, if the mouse pointer is hovering over them, etc.

Is this a good idea?

I used to think that my pages artistic design merits depended on having links displayed the way I wanted.

Now I see that about 50% of people that view my site's homepage, never go on to any other page.

Could it be that they don't recognize the links (despite the fact that they change to bold when the mouse moves over them)?

Is it better just to let the browser have its default, so that everyone recognizes the blue, underlinked text is a link?

Your thoughts?

[Marshall]

Ed,

First remember that the bold hover effect does not work in NN4 or earlier browsers. Then, probably a lot of the hits to your home page are robots.

As for link colors, unless the link looks identical to the text, most Internet users know. I use a mix of link styles on a page, but each has a purpose.

In the usual left navigation set up, my links are color coordinated to the page design and not underlined. But this location for navigation, as well as top and bottom, are obvious. When a link appears in a paragraph say, I make sure it stands out usually by bolding it (along with underline) or by making it an obviously different color.

Hope this helps.

[Eric_Jarvis]

I'm working on a basis of do as I please (within reason) for obvious menus...but blue underlined for any links within normal text

[tedster]

There are several visual clues at work - the color, the underline and the hover behavior, where it's supported.

Personal opinion here - I'd say that well chosen alternate colors for links and visited links are fine. But when I visit a page that breaks the web metaphor by not underlining links, I OFTEN overlook them.

Not underlining in-line links is a major error... it's a design choice that confuses the web with print. I'm nearly 100% certain that link underlines will increase pageviews per unique by a very substantial factor for any site that isn't using them...even the big boys.

I'd love to see some research on this. I'll bet that Jakob Nielsen already did it.

[tedster]

One more thought about alternate color - it's important that the colors a site chooses make visited links look "used" somehow. Sites where the visited links look even more prominent drive me crazy.

(edited by: tedster at 11:59 pm (utc) on Mar. 18, 2002)

[bird]

Top Ten Mistakes in Web Design [useit.com]

8. Non-standard link colors
Continues to be a problem since users rely on the link colors to understand what parts of the site they have visited. I often see users bounce repeatedly among a small set of pages, not knowing that they are going back to the same page again and again. (Also, because non-standard link colors are unpleasantly frequent, users are now getting confused by any underlining of text that is not a link.)

Not everybody will agree with Nielsen, but then, not everybody has done extensive useablilty tests about the subject... ;)

[AlbinoRhyno]

I think it depends on if you are talking about navigation links or in-line links.

In-line links shouldn't be messed with, except for color. In coloring, only do so to stay with a site's color scheme, and then make sure it sticks out from normal text.

As for navigation links, as long as it is in a clearly defined "link place", e.g. where the normal left-hand nav would be, it doesn't really matter if you take away the underline. I would only do this to create a cleaner look, but it might confuse an extreme newbie. This goes back to designing for your target audience.

The only problems I see is when no links on a page have underlines, and then they use bold, colored text in the content. You hover over that text thinking it will be a link, and if it isn't, you get fed up and leave.