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Re: click here?

for

From: Wendy R. Mullin
Date: Sep 10, 2001 1:51PM

I am looking for references that will help me build a case for using
descriptive text for links instead of "click here for .....". I have
several references within the accessibility literature but I was
wondering if anyone can direct me to general web design books or
articles that discourages the use of "click here".
Cheryl,
Sorry I took so long to respond. I was out most of last week. I hope you can still use the following information.
1) Patrick J. Lynch and Sarah Horton's Web Style Guide: Basic Design for Creating Web Sites
http://info.med.yale.edu/caim/manual/
In the section called "Editorial Syle" (http://info.med.yale.edu/caim/manual/pages/editorial_style.html), there is a subsection called "Links and language" that discusses why not to use "click here".
2) Title: Creative content for the Web
Author: Millon, Marc.
Description: 188 p. ; 23 cm.
Published: Exeter, England ; Portland, Or. : Intellect, 1999.
LC Subjects: Web publishing.
World Wide Web.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 179-184) and index.
ISN: 1871516978
In Chapter 8, Writing for the Web, there is a brief mention of using descriptive links:
"Links, if textual rather than graphic, should be created from significant or meaningful words and phrases and they ought to be places within a contextual framework that helps the user to know where he will be taken (unless you are offering links serendipitously, inviting the user to go on a journey of discovery that leads to somewhere not anticipated.)" (p. 114)
3) Title: Human factors and Web development
Description: ix, 280 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.
Published: Mahwah, N.J. : Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1998.
LC Subjects: Web sites --Design.
Web sites --Psychological aspects.
World Wide Web --Psychological aspects.
Human-computer interaction.
Other Authors: Forsythe, Chris. Grose, Eric. Ratner, Julie.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
ISN: 0805828230 (acid-free paper)
0805828249 (pbk. : aacid=free paper)

Chapter 11, Page Design Guidelines Developed Through Usability Testing
In the section on "Navigation" there is a subsection called "Selecting appropriate Names for Links". While this section does not mention the dreaded "click here", is does include the results of a usability study on the appropriateness of link names and, based upon this study, provides three guidelines for naming links.
"Link names should reflect the content of the page they point to." (p. 146)
"Link names should be specific. For example, it is more meaningful to use Crosswords and Comics instead of Recreation and Deadlines instead of Important Stuff." (p 146)
"Avoid names that are not commonly understood such as technical words and terms with in-house or local meanings. For example, it is more meaningful to use Industrial Affiliates Program instead of IAP and Computer and Communications Technologies instead of Telematics." (p 146)

Wendy R. Mullin
Web Developer, University of South Carolina
1244 Blossom Street, Columbia, South Carolina 29208
voice: 803-777-6785 | fax: 803-777-4149
<EMAIL REMOVED> | http://isg.csd.sc.edu/~wmullin/