How necessary are in text links?

[Innkeep]

Red and green disappear for Arks and other guys with that color problem.

To clarify, for people with my special color vision gift, red and green don't disappear, they just both look the same, or nearly the same, so red text on a green background is hard to read, and green text on a red background is hard to read. The problem goes away, though, if there's a lot of value (contrast) difference. For example, dark red on light green isn't too bad. Neither is light red on dark green. It's just when they are about the same value (darkness) that they are hard to tell apart.
Years ago I wrote a letter to Time Magazine complaining because they were printing charts with red lines and green lines and I couldn't tell a thing about them. They didn't care enough to respond!.

Arks I knew a chap who had your gift and was actually sought after in the military as he could easily determine camouflage in a forest/jungle. Artificial greens stood out to him. Do you have this same ability?
.

Artificial greens stood out to him. Do you have this same ability?

Not that I know of. But I'm convinced that blue is much more vivid to me than to the un-gifted.
Regarding underlined links and old school, sometimes I think we're losing a lot of good function by giving form the upper hand, trying to be new and cutting edge at the expense of what functions well.
The theme my website uses has in-text links look exactly the same as regular text, and I hate that. I refuse to make readers wave their mouse over every word as they read it to see if there's more information available on a subject. That's just ridiculous.
To me, getting the information out is more important than following the lead lemmings over the cliff. Somehow, though, that's a mixed metaphor. <--in-text link
.

I think the color combo now works better. The in-text links are differently colored so indicate there is something there to be aware of.
.

Your live website looks great! Makes me want to book a room immediately (I wish I could).
On the recipe page, some of the ones that are listed aren't linked yet. I suspect that you're still working on recipes?

 

[Madeleine]

Red and green disappear for Arks and other guys with that color problem.

To clarify, for people with my special color vision gift, red and green don't disappear, they just both look the same, or nearly the same, so red text on a green background is hard to read, and green text on a red background is hard to read. The problem goes away, though, if there's a lot of value (contrast) difference. For example, dark red on light green isn't too bad. Neither is light red on dark green. It's just when they are about the same value (darkness) that they are hard to tell apart.
Years ago I wrote a letter to Time Magazine complaining because they were printing charts with red lines and green lines and I couldn't tell a thing about them. They didn't care enough to respond!.

Arks I knew a chap who had your gift and was actually sought after in the military as he could easily determine camouflage in a forest/jungle. Artificial greens stood out to him. Do you have this same ability?
.

Artificial greens stood out to him. Do you have this same ability?

Not that I know of. But I'm convinced that blue is much more vivid to me than to the un-gifted.
Regarding underlined links and old school, sometimes I think we're losing a lot of good function by giving form the upper hand, trying to be new and cutting edge at the expense of what functions well.
The theme my website uses has in-text links look exactly the same as regular text, and I hate that. I refuse to make readers wave their mouse over every word as they read it to see if there's more information available on a subject. That's just ridiculous.
To me, getting the information out is more important than following the lead lemmings over the cliff. Somehow, though, that's a mixed metaphor. <--in-text link
.

I think the color combo now works better. The in-text links are differently colored so indicate there is something there to be aware of.
.

Your live website looks great! Makes me want to book a room immediately (I wish I could).
On the recipe page, some of the ones that are listed aren't linked yet. I suspect that you're still working on recipes?
.

Your live website looks great! Makes me want to book a room immediately (I wish I could).
On the recipe page, some of the ones that are listed aren't linked yet. I suspect that you're still working on recipes?

Yes, still working on them. They weren't on the old site, either. Slacker!

 

[Innkeep]

Red and green disappear for Arks and other guys with that color problem.

To clarify, for people with my special color vision gift, red and green don't disappear, they just both look the same, or nearly the same, so red text on a green background is hard to read, and green text on a red background is hard to read. The problem goes away, though, if there's a lot of value (contrast) difference. For example, dark red on light green isn't too bad. Neither is light red on dark green. It's just when they are about the same value (darkness) that they are hard to tell apart.
Years ago I wrote a letter to Time Magazine complaining because they were printing charts with red lines and green lines and I couldn't tell a thing about them. They didn't care enough to respond!.

Arks I knew a chap who had your gift and was actually sought after in the military as he could easily determine camouflage in a forest/jungle. Artificial greens stood out to him. Do you have this same ability?
.

Artificial greens stood out to him. Do you have this same ability?

Not that I know of. But I'm convinced that blue is much more vivid to me than to the un-gifted.
Regarding underlined links and old school, sometimes I think we're losing a lot of good function by giving form the upper hand, trying to be new and cutting edge at the expense of what functions well.
The theme my website uses has in-text links look exactly the same as regular text, and I hate that. I refuse to make readers wave their mouse over every word as they read it to see if there's more information available on a subject. That's just ridiculous.
To me, getting the information out is more important than following the lead lemmings over the cliff. Somehow, though, that's a mixed metaphor. <--in-text link
.

I think the color combo now works better. The in-text links are differently colored so indicate there is something there to be aware of.
.

Your live website looks great! Makes me want to book a room immediately (I wish I could).
On the recipe page, some of the ones that are listed aren't linked yet. I suspect that you're still working on recipes?
.

Your live website looks great! Makes me want to book a room immediately (I wish I could).
On the recipe page, some of the ones that are listed aren't linked yet. I suspect that you're still working on recipes?

Yes, still working on them. They weren't on the old site, either. Slacker!
.

Slacker!

No way. Follow me around here for a day or two if you want to know what a real slacker looks like

 

[swirt]

Links should stand out as different than ordinary text. The do exist for humans and SEO. The benefit to both is not mutually exclusive. People do read, as much as we assume they don't, and they do follow links in the body copy.
Styling them, style them using your css file, not using the editor in your WYSIWIG (break the sins of the past).

 

[swirt]

If you want them to use the link . Then you have to try and let them know it is a link. I would suggest by putting a line under the words. That way it shows it is a hyper link..

underlining hyperlinks is OLD SCHOOL. How many REALLY professional websites do you see with underlines...think about it.
.

Google does. (sites that want people to move through lots of content swiftly use them)
I would also argue that all links should respond with an underline when hovered, regardless of the other style treatment they get on hover.
The other issue since most are going responsive now, is to consider that if you rely on people identifying something is a link by altering your mouse pointer or doing a hover effect, then you are completely forgetting about touch users. On tablets and touch screens there is no pointer and no hover effect, so a good practice for usability is to underline links. There is a reason they are oldschool, and there is a reason they are making a comeback.

 

[Arks]

If you want them to use the link . Then you have to try and let them know it is a link. I would suggest by putting a line under the words. That way it shows it is a hyper link..

underlining hyperlinks is OLD SCHOOL. How many REALLY professional websites do you see with underlines...think about it.
.

Google does. (sites that want people to move through lots of content swiftly use them)
I would also argue that all links should respond with an underline when hovered, regardless of the other style treatment they get on hover.
The other issue since most are going responsive now, is to consider that if you rely on people identifying something is a link by altering your mouse pointer or doing a hover effect, then you are completely forgetting about touch users. On tablets and touch screens there is no pointer and no hover effect, so a good practice for usability is to underline links. There is a reason they are oldschool, and there is a reason they are making a comeback.
.

...if you rely on people identifying something is a link by altering your mouse pointer or doing a hover effect, then you are completely forgetting about touch users. On tablets and touch screens there is no pointer and no hover effect, so a good practice for usability is to underline links. There is a reason they are oldschool, and there is a reason they are making a comeback.

Thank you swirt, the voice of reason.
Indeed, my theme makes hyperlinks look like reguar text, so I FORCE it to look like a link by underlining it. Long live the link. It had has a purpose.

 

[EmptyNest]

If you want them to use the link . Then you have to try and let them know it is a link. I would suggest by putting a line under the words. That way it shows it is a hyper link..

underlining hyperlinks is OLD SCHOOL. How many REALLY professional websites do you see with underlines...think about it.
.

Google does. (sites that want people to move through lots of content swiftly use them)
I would also argue that all links should respond with an underline when hovered, regardless of the other style treatment they get on hover.
The other issue since most are going responsive now, is to consider that if you rely on people identifying something is a link by altering your mouse pointer or doing a hover effect, then you are completely forgetting about touch users. On tablets and touch screens there is no pointer and no hover effect, so a good practice for usability is to underline links. There is a reason they are oldschool, and there is a reason they are making a comeback.
.

I believe the style for many themes is to have the underline show when moving over the internal link. I think hers does. My big pet peeve is when folks put underlines for titles etc and then...it is not a link....a carry over from the old typewriter days

 

[Madeleine]

If you want them to use the link . Then you have to try and let them know it is a link. I would suggest by putting a line under the words. That way it shows it is a hyper link..

underlining hyperlinks is OLD SCHOOL. How many REALLY professional websites do you see with underlines...think about it.
.

Google does. (sites that want people to move through lots of content swiftly use them)
I would also argue that all links should respond with an underline when hovered, regardless of the other style treatment they get on hover.
The other issue since most are going responsive now, is to consider that if you rely on people identifying something is a link by altering your mouse pointer or doing a hover effect, then you are completely forgetting about touch users. On tablets and touch screens there is no pointer and no hover effect, so a good practice for usability is to underline links. There is a reason they are oldschool, and there is a reason they are making a comeback.
.

I believe the style for many themes is to have the underline show when moving over the internal link. I think hers does. My big pet peeve is when folks put underlines for titles etc and then...it is not a link....a carry over from the old typewriter days
.

Yes, the links change color and underline on hover. And they are a different color than the regular text. Only slightly different as I find it very distracting to try to read anything with very obviously highlighted text. So, some people may not see the difference in the text.

 

[JBloggs]

If you want them to use the link . Then you have to try and let them know it is a link. I would suggest by putting a line under the words. That way it shows it is a hyper link..

underlining hyperlinks is OLD SCHOOL. How many REALLY professional websites do you see with underlines...think about it.
.

Google does. (sites that want people to move through lots of content swiftly use them)
I would also argue that all links should respond with an underline when hovered, regardless of the other style treatment they get on hover.
The other issue since most are going responsive now, is to consider that if you rely on people identifying something is a link by altering your mouse pointer or doing a hover effect, then you are completely forgetting about touch users. On tablets and touch screens there is no pointer and no hover effect, so a good practice for usability is to underline links. There is a reason they are oldschool, and there is a reason they are making a comeback.
.

I believe the style for many themes is to have the underline show when moving over the internal link. I think hers does. My big pet peeve is when folks put underlines for titles etc and then...it is not a link....a carry over from the old typewriter days
.

I believe the style for many themes is to have the underline show when moving over the internal link. I think hers does. My big pet peeve is when folks put underlines for titles etc and then...it is not a link....a carry over from the old typewriter days

AMEN!
Don't indent and don't underline anything. and...don't BOLD and ITALICIZE...pick one.

 

[Arks]

I miss typewriters. http://youtu.be/g2LJ1i7222c