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users who turn off underlining for links

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From: Lori K. Brown
Date: Aug 6, 2003 11:12AM

Dear list:

We are struggling with what would seem to be the most basic of problems:
the accessible, consistent, and user-friendly presentation of hyperlinks
in our web-based software product.

Unstyled, for nearly all browsers I have ever seen, hyperlinks are blue
and underlined. I believe that the particular styling of hyperlinks is
irrelevant for AT users, so I'm not going to examine their situation
further. But there are users with other visual impairments for whom the
particular styling is important -- colorblind users, users who use
magnifiers, and the problem we are addressing locally -- users who turn
off the underlining of hyperlinks. In a world with this diversity of
needs, the color that helps the no-underlines user is useless to the
colorblind user. I am baffled.

What is the best way to present hyperlinked text that makes all of these
folks happy?

I proposed using titles on the hyperlinks, since in some if not all
browsers titles on hyperlinks are presented as popup tooltips. But this
doesn't happen in all browsers, and many users are too impatient / unaware
to hover over a linked piece of text to get the tooltip.

Ideas? Suggestions? Commiseration?

Lori K. Brown
user interface engineer
SiteScape, Inc.


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