Linkedin Answers can showcase your expertise or resolve your burning questions. I just experienced both again this week. SCORE Chicago is revising its website, and we debated whether or not to underline hyperlinks. Two consultants gave us opposite opinions. So I went to the Linkedin.com community to learn more. (For the basics of social networking sites like this, see my earlier post on Linkedin and business-oriented social networking websites.)
On March 6th, I posted this question: “Is it a best practice to underline or not to underline hyperlinks on a web page?’
After 4 days, I have gotten 18 answers. Most of those who responded gave substantive and detailed comments, some with links. Their levels of expertise varied. To find the question and responses, log into Linkedin.com, click the Answers tab on the top bar, and look on the lower right for “Browse.” Find and click the Technology subject, then Web Development, and look through recent questions for mine. Click on it to see the responses.
Opinions are Divided
Everyone agrees, of course, that the links have to look different enough to be perceived as links. Many also advocate consistent link treatment throughout the site. Beyond this, reasonable people differ.
The Majority: Underlined Hyperlinks Are User Friendly
According to the majority, underlined hyperlinks are…
“often the default format.” Steve Glass, Site Tuneups Web Development
“very useful from an end-user perspective…Why would you want your readers to have to ‘mouse around’ in order to see what links exist?” Todd Greenwood, KeywordWizards
“a best practice. We underline links to remove any guessing on the user’s part.” Remi Goc, Ignite Web Solutions
“just should be [underlined.]“ Georgina Dawkins, Team London Bridge
“the default behavior that all levels of technical aptitude presumably understand.” Mark Bradford, Our Web Development
“should be [underlined]. I don’t want my visitors guessing.” Peggy Duncan, PeggyDuncan.com
“easier to see, stand out, and understand that it is indeed a hyperlink” Josh Chernin, Web Industries
“Visitors shouldn’t have to hover over text trying to find a hyperlink.” DeAnne Clifton, Beauchamp McSpadden
Nick Zadrozny, freelance web developer, contributes this link to Jakob Nielson, who “makes a good case for coloring and underlining links” Guidelines for Visualizing Links
Andrei Snitko, Virtuace, Inc, adds this post on Hubspot which recommends that hyperlinks always be underlined. 9 Ways to Optimize Your Links and Draw Attention to Calls for Action
The Minority: Modern Designs Avoid Underlined Hyperlinks
“Current designs I have seen overall do not use underline on links” Steve Glass, Site Tuneups Web Development
“I think links SHOULD use the hover=underline link notice, but not when sitting dormant.” Jim Rudnick, FlamboroCanadaSystems
“As long as your link looks clickable, it doesn’t matter whether you keep it underlined or not.” Srusti Ranjan 4spots IT
“Generally a change in the link text when mousing over is most common and user friendly, i.e. UK BBC and Sky News. ” Stuart McClure, Gold Group
“It’s always good to underline the hyperlink when the mouse is taken over the link. By default, hyperlinks should be in a different color than the text displayed in the web page.” B.R. Nagendra, Preteans Software Solutions
Underlined Hyperlinks as Best For Those with Disabilities
“The old default of underlined blue text is understood by everyone, and is discernible by the colorblind (the underline is a redundant piece of information, in addition to the different color.)… Just make sure that people with various disabilities (especially color vision deficiency) can make use of an alternative way to see that the text is a link. For those with screen readers, make sure it still works.” Phil Perry, Catskill Technology Services
“Without underlines, people with cognitive disabilities absolutely cannot comprehend a page. If there is even a slight chance that someone with dyslexia, bipolar disorder, etc might be using your site, you should keep the underlines. The suggestion for that audience is to remove the underline link, but add a border:bottom link which is lower than the traditional underline, and also add a background hover color.” Heather Burns, Idea15 Web Design
Instances Where You Might Skip Underlined Links
Where it is:”quite apparent that it is a link (navigation menu, ‘click here.’)” Christopher Ervin, consultant
Where “there is a marked difference in the color of the hyperlinked text and there is more than likely … some white space around the hyperlink….If the hyperlink is embedded in a paragraph of text, underlining is probably the best way to alert the viewer…” Charles Caro, Community Commerce Centers Initiative
SEO Considerations
“If you have large content and create too many links to your pages internally,.. search engines will not like it” (regardless of hyperlinks.) Srusti Ranjan 4spots IT
“…hyperlinks, bold and italics emphasize your text to search engines, and will help boost your rankings.” Peggy Duncan, PeggyDuncan.com
Related comments
“What ticks me off is when people underline text that’s NOT a hyperlink! I’d rather they used bold, italics, bigger size etc to make it stand out.” Peggy Duncan, PeggyDuncan.com
Avoid “mystery meat” navigation, “where you use plain text or mysterious graphics and wait for the user to sweep over them with a mouse to pop up something indicating a link. This is bad practice because it may not work at all if Javascript is turned off… And screen readers may not process them correctly.” Phil Perry, Catskill Technology Services
Back to Linkedin Answers, can you see how those who answer the question increase their visibility and potentially their reputations? Did you know that if you respond to a question, all your contacts see that you have done so when the next status email goes out? Beyond the Linkedin community, these responders even got quoted in my blog post. Can you think of a question you’d like to pose? That gets coverage too in status updates to your contacts.
What’s your vote? Should hyperlinks be underlined or not? Shouldn’t you be increasing your visibility by participating in Linkedin Answers? Please leave me a comment.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Peg. Following on from what we discussed on LinkedIn, here is a post I wrote which collects resources on designing web sites to accommodate cognitive disabilities such as depression, learning disabilities, memory loss, Asperger’s Syndrome, and even the beginnings of dementia.
Web Design for Cognitive Disabilities
The first link on that page (NCDAE) puts you in the shoes of someone experiencing a cognitive disability and makes it clear why underlines are so essential on links. In short, it is not just an issue of design, but of the basic ability to comprehend much less navigate the site. The other resources contain the practicalities of how to edit your CSS.
We may not know someone who is blind or deaf, but we all know someone who has been affected by depression or a learning disability, and helping them to view the web is essential.
The question, to me, seems to look at one aspect of the website experience without the broader context. The overarching question is, “What is the overall user experience on your website?”
Then we should look at whether every component from color, font, underline etc align with the overall theme and user experience.
Dumb comment. Why would bipolars need underline? They see fine, it’s their MIND that’s the problem, idiots, not their vision.
I appreciate your contribution to the conversation, Rags. You are right, the big picture is important to the decision about how hyperlinks are formatted.
I don’t know why I’m dignifying Aerii’s anonymous trolling with a response, but here is why people with bipolar need underlines.
http://www.lsw-webdesign.com/2008/07/10/from-the-inside-depression-the-cognitive-disorder/
Would you care to clarify why you reacted with such hostility to the topic?