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Thread: Wikipedia and non-underlined links?
Number of posts in this thread: 4 (In chronological order)
From: Patrick Lauke
Date: Mon, Feb 16 2009 5:50AM
Subject: Wikipedia and non-underlined links?
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Not sure when it happened, but a colleague just made me aware of the
fact that wikipedia seems to have dropped the underline styling on all
its links. Now, I'd argue that particularly on wikipedia, where
potentially every single word in the body copy can be a link, this is
extremely bad...so we have black text, dark blue links, and a light blue
background...squint a bit, or work on a monitor with slightly shot
contrast, and you can't see what's a link and what isn't...
Bad, bad decision there...
P
From: Krystian - Sunlust
Date: Mon, Feb 16 2009 9:00AM
Subject: Re: Wikipedia and non-underlined links?
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Hi,
I never remember underlined links on wikipedia, also the colour is
blue and it all looks fine for me.
Regards,
--
Krystian - Sunlust
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From: Ben Caldwell
Date: Mon, Feb 16 2009 9:40AM
Subject: Re: Wikipedia and non-underlined links?
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One thing to consider here is that the number of links in a typical
sentence/paragraph on Wikipedia can be quite high and that a large number of
underlined words within body text may interfere with readability.
Also, it is possible for users to create an account on wikipedia and adjust
their preferences to always underline links (My preferences -> Misc -> Underline
links). Wikipedia might consider changing the default setting here, but I think
there is value in giving users the option to suppress the underlines.
I also think that their default style should include link underlines on focus,
which would allow those navigating via keyboard to enjoy the same link
highlighting effect as mouse users.
-Ben
Patrick Lauke wrote:
> Not sure when it happened, but a colleague just made me aware of the
> fact that wikipedia seems to have dropped the underline styling on all
> its links. Now, I'd argue that particularly on wikipedia, where
> potentially every single word in the body copy can be a link, this is
> extremely bad...so we have black text, dark blue links, and a light blue
> background...squint a bit, or work on a monitor with slightly shot
> contrast, and you can't see what's a link and what isn't...
>
> Bad, bad decision there...
>
> P
>
From: Bill Mason
Date: Mon, Feb 16 2009 11:00AM
Subject: Re: Wikipedia and non-underlined links?
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Krystian - Sunlust wrote:
> I never remember underlined links on wikipedia, also the colour is
> blue and it all looks fine for me.
This is also the style I am currently seeing. It has been this way for
quite some time on Wikipedia.
--
Bill Mason
Accessible Internet
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