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Re: Link format: to underline or not

for

From: Jared Smith
Date: Oct 5, 2010 7:48AM

On Tue, Oct 5, 2010 at 7:11 AM, steven wrote:
> I generally am in favour of making text as easy to read as possible, on the
> basis that text links are generally assistive to non linked text and
> therefore are often of secondary importance.

I disagree. Any slight decrease in readability of a few underlined
words of a link is far outweighed by the benefits of having the links
clearly distinguishable via the underline. Large sections of
underlined text are more difficult to read, but I haven't seen
anything that indicates that a succinct, underlined link causes
readability issues. On the other hand, there's plenty to indicate that
not underlining links can cause usability issues in many cases. Using
color alone to distinguish links is not usually sufficient. Consider
small screen devices, touch screen devices, users with low vision,
users that override page colors, color-blindness, new users that
expect links to be underlined, etc.

If you don't underline links by default, be sure to consider the
significant requirements necessary to make those links truly
accessible. See http://webaim.org/blog/wcag-2-0-and-link-colors/ for
more details. In short, you must have sufficient contrast with
non-link text and you must introduce a non-color designator on both
mouse hover and keyboard focus.

> And as much as I agree with
> blue underlined text being commonly associated as links, I consider them to
> be leftovers of a by-gone era that has moved on

I have a tough time believing that the default styling and
presentation of the most significant element in HTML, the hypertext
link, is somehow faux pas or a relic of yesteryear. Considering the
proliferation of touch screen devices, I strongly suspect that
non-underlined links will instead soon become the leftovers of a
by-gone era.

Jared Smith
WebAIM