[IxDA Discuss] does color matter for hyperlinks

[Will Parker]

Color doesn't matter, but usability, accessibility and expectations do.

There have been numerous studies that the majority of users _expect_  
hyperlinks to be blue+underlined, when studied in large,  
undifferentiated groups. (I haven't seen any similar studies  
regarding expectations regarding the expected appearance of visited  
links.) More experienced users require less hand-holding in this  
area, but you do still need to give them some orientation clues.

My experience is that most active Web users readily adapt to  
alternate hyperlink appearances as long as the links are easily  
distinguishable from surrounding text, especially when the link  
appearance changes when the cursor is hovered over the link. For  
example, a link that is bold, dark red, and not underlined might  
change to bold, bright red and underlined when the cursor is hovering  
over it.

You should make sure that your hyperlinks are readily distinguishable  
from the surrounding text, by color, weight and/or text-decoration,  
AND screen-reader-friendly tags. Sticking with the average case of a  
normally-sighted person on a large display screen, text weight and  
contrast matter more than color.

As for accessibility, Liz Strauss has a good set of tutorials on  
building accessible hyperlinks at http://www.successful-blog.com/1/ 
how-to-code-accessible-links-part-1/.

- Will

Will Parker
wparker at ChannelingDesign.com
206-228-3187 (cell-preferred)
206-783-1943 (home office)


"The only people who value your specialist knowledge are the ones who  
already have it." - William Tozier





On Feb 27, 2007, at 12:29 PM, Kinjal wrote:

> Is it necessary to have hyperlinks as: underlined text and blue  
> color and for the visited link: underlined text and purple color???  
> Does a user understand a hyperlink from the underlined text or only  
> with the combination of underlined text and a blue color.
>
> My question is does color matter????
>
>
>
>
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