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Just making a mouse pointer change over a hyperlink without providing
additional cues is rather useless. How do users find the hyperlinks in the
first place? Run their mouse all around the screen until they see the cursor
change? Not a Good Thing.
That's why, in Help systems and in the web, hyperlinks have been
distinguished by both color *and* underlining. Those who have colorblindness
can still see the visual cue.
It's also why it's not a good idea to change those now-common visual cues.
That is, use the magically appearing underline on mousover (like in Internet
Explorer) or use different colors for your links (the green (Help) and blue
(web) have become essentially standards that most users expect to find. When
they don't find them that way, usability is decreased.
--
--
"I don't entirely understand it but it is true: Highly skilled
carpenters don't get insulted when told they are not architects,
but highly skilled programmers do get insulted when told
they are not UI designers."
- anonymous programmer quoted in "GUI Bloopers"
Chuck Martin
User Assistance & Experience Engineer
twriter "at" sonic "dot" net www.writeforyou.com
<bryan -dot- westbrook -at- amd -dot- com> wrote in message news:99098 -at- techwr-l -dot- -dot- -dot-
>
> The mouse pointer changes from an arrow to that little Mickey Mouse hand
> when you pass over a hyperlink. There can also be variations in the
shades
> of gray, as long as red is not used for the link color. People who are
> color blind see in grayscale, not monochrome.
>
>
> --- Steve Shepard <STEVES -at- YARDI -dot- com> wrote:
> >
> > In our online help we use a different color to indicate a hyperlink,
> rather
> > than underline.
>
> So, what do you do about people who can't distinquish colors? How do such
> people 'see' your hyperlinks?
>
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