What Links Are
- Underlined blue text is the most obvious visual indicator of a link
- Links are the signposts that help users know which route is most likely to get them to their destination.
- Think of linking as the quickest means to get the user to the most relevant information
- "Links do not only express semic relations, but also, significantly, establish pathways of possible movement within the Web page; they suggest relations, but also control access to information" (Burbules 105).
- "Instead of simply viewing links as connectors, we should view them as associative relations that change, redefine, and enhance or restrict access to the information they comprise" (Burbules 103).
- "Every link excludes as well as includes associative points; every path leads away from other avenues as it opens one passage; every trope conceals as it reveals" (Burbules 119).
- Links are more like sticks than like funnels. There are so many ways to use them that there are few prototypical uses.
What Links Are Not
- "Links are not all the same, and do not imply the same type of semic relation" (Burbules 104).
- Hypertext is not technology, it's a development of a fundamental aspect of human life: Literature.
What Links Are For
- Integrate related visual or text materials into your site.
- They add semantic meaning to the page
- Users rely on hypertext links to help assess the credibility of the information contained in websites
- The links made it easy for the user to navigate to additional information about a topic, but also acted as headings for each paragraph, informing the user what each section is about.
- Linking does exactly what morality wants us to do: turn toward the world we share and see how it matters to one another.
-Hyperlinks to other sites with supporting information increases the credibility of your pages
-Not being afraid to link to other sites is a sign of confidence, and third-party sites are much more credible than anything you can say yourself. Isolated sites feel like they have something to hide.—Nielsen(1999a)
-Not being afraid to link to other sites is a sign of confidence, and third-party sites are much more credible than anything you can say yourself. Isolated sites feel like they have something to hide.—Nielsen(1999a)
When to Link
- Put only the most salient links within the body of your text.
- Too many links within a block of text can disrupt continuity and understanding.
- Group all minor, illustrative, parenthetic, or footnote links at the bottom of the document
- Where possible and appropriate, place links at the beginning or end of paragraphs or sections of narrative text. —IBM (1999)
Why to Link
- The primary design strategy in thoughtful hypertext is to use links to reinforce your message
- Improve page scannability by using links that are easily noticeable and understandable.
- Links are good because they allow us to share the existence of others and their ideas.
- We send our visitors to other sites because we think those other sites will matter to them.
What to Link to
- If possible, offer links to supplementary but relevant material
- Including: examples, case studies, white papers, drafts, policies, etc.
- Links need to be meaningful to be helpful
What to Link From
How to Write Links
- Be sure that all links clearly indicate their destinations.
- Keep the linktext fairly short, but offer supplementary description of the content on the target page.
- For universal usability, links must be visually identifiable with or without color.
- Underlines, color, navigation column/button bar -Examples of how to distinguish links
- By providing different link colors for visited and unvisited links, you allow users to identify the paths they have already taken.
- Saves users time and frustration
- Write as if you were not using links
- Do not point out that the link is a link. Let the formatting reveal its clickability
- Link length is less important than a good link description. Use as many words as you need to accurately describe the page (or document) being referenced, while still being concise
- Frontloading the link name helps users scan the page more easily
- People mostly look at the first 2 words of a link
How to Classify Links
- Two types of links are used in web sites:
- Navigational links that connect pages within a site
- Book contents, chapter contents, etc.
- “Embedded” hypertext links that take users to a different site
- Parenthetical material, footnotes, digressions, or parallel themes
- Announce the new with special links that:
- Point out new, updated, and/or changed content
- Hypertext can be either one-way or two-way:
- 1-Way Hypertext
- Software for one-way hypertext is easier to create. The links can be stored as part of the unit or page and an author can change the text or the links at the same time.
- Much easier to manage-- but far less useful.
- 2-Way Hypertext
- More difficult to create- the links go in both directions
- The programmers have to keep track of links arriving from other places
- Associating links with tropes can help us view links in a more open minded way (Burbules 111-116).
- Metaphor
- Viewing one thing as another
- Links can be metaphors when they link apparently unrelated textual points which are actually associated
- Metonymy
- An association not by similarity
- Web links can become metonymic with repetition
- Synecdoche
- When part of something is used as short-hand for the thing as a whole (or vise versa)
- In Web links, this is helpful in identifying or suggesting relations of categorical inclusion
- Hyperbole
- Exaggeration for the sake of tropic emphasis
- The dynamics of the WWW are hyperbolic- each collection, archive, search engine, etc, implies a degree of comprehension beyond its actual scope
- Antistasis
- Repetition of the same word in a different context
- Many links use a particular word as a pivot from one context to a very different one
- Identity
- The same linking point is used to highlight points of commonality, not difference (unlike Antistasis)
- On the web, identity suggests that core meaning resists changing context. It draws a line of connection through pages from different people/cultures/etc., like a net unifying web content and contexts
- Sequence and cause-and-effect
- Indicate real relations, not simple allusive ones
- Links that suggest 'this and then that' or 'this because of that' do much more than simply associate ideas or information points; they assert, or imply, beliefs about the world outside of the Web
- Catechresis
- 'Far-fetched' metaphor, or a strict misuse of language
- Any two things can be linked and with that link, a process of semic movement begins instantaneously.
How Links Create Meaning
- Links help visitors:
- Have fun
- Learn
- Act
- Be aware
- Get closer to people
- When writing links ask yourself, “What will the user get when they click this link?”
- "The more one is aware how this (selecting material for a page, making links, etc.) is done, the more more can be aware that it was done and that it could have been done otherwise." (Burbules 118).
How Links Create Difficulties
- Embedded hypertext links pose two fundamental design problems:
- Disrupt the flow of content by inviting the user to leave
- Radically alter context of info by dumping the users into unfamiliar territory without preamble or explanation
- Bad link text, such as nondescriptive “click here” links or catchy but meaningless phrases, forces the user to follow the link to learn its destination.
- Often leads to dead ends
- Causes users to waste time
- Misleading links include:
- Linktext that is too short, too cryptic, or too confusing
- Example: Some of the links on the Twitter FAQ page (like protect your Tweets or how to post a Tweet) are understandable out of context. But there are also several vague and duplicate links (here, @reply) that hinder scanning the page or use of a screen reader.
- Unnecessary links to outside sites may confuse or annoy readers, slow them down, and damage credibility.
- Poor link labels hurt your search-engine ranking
- Search engines use the anchor text as an additional cue to what the page or document is about
- "Links define as a fixed set of relations given to the reader, among which the reader may choose, but beyond which most readers will never go" (Burbules 105).
- "The use and placement of links is one of the vital ways in which the tacit assumptions and values of the designer/author are manifested in a hypertext-yet they are rarely considered as such" (Burbules 105).
- "Links are a part of what can turn information into knowledge, suggesting casual associations, category relations, instantiations, and so forth; but when a link is not evaluated as such, an opportunity to translate information into knowledge of some sort is lost " (Burbules 109).
