Replies: 7 comments
The article about link length is from their UIE Reports - Designing Information-Rich Web Sites - Report 4: Links that Give off Scent on Page 3. Quote "Our data shows that links of 7-12 words, including assaciated text..., are more likely to lead to user success,..."
Cheers/Peter
ps. keep the good stuff coming :-)
Posted by Peter Emmett @ 10/28/2001 10:42 PM EST
See also Jakob Nielsen (2000). 'Designing Web Usability'. Indianapolis: New Riders, page 55, where he advises against using the words 'Click here' in hypertext links. He recommends a link word count of "two to four words long", plus an explanation of where the link will take the user. This explanation should give enough information for the user to decide whether to follow the link or not.
He recommends against long links on the grounds that "If too many words are used for a link, the user cannot pick up its meaning by scanning. Only the most important information-carrying terms should be made into hypertext links."
Posted by Andy @ 10/29/2001 05:07 AM EST
The website of the french newspaper Le Monde does that also.
http://www.lemonde.fr
Posted by Frédéric Roland @ 10/29/2001 07:35 AM EST
Interesting.
Is Spool right or is Jakob? Who has the better research? Now I'm really interested in the underlying data.
Has anyone else noticed that people are getting really sloppy with their links? I have recently had a very hard time figuring out where I will go when I certain links.
Posted by John S. Rhodes @ 10/29/2001 08:13 AM EST
I almost hesitate to say anything, but I think his long links really work in this case.
Now for the qualifiers: I only like the effect when the type is a little larger (size 2/3 or 12/14pt) and in a roomy layout, like this one. Cramped paragraphs with small text are unreadable when they are hyperlinked like that (underline or no).
In general, I prefer the 4-5 word hyperlinks, but in this case I am more likely to read and be intrigued by the paragraph than I would be to see only a few words highlighted. If I thought it was yet another XP link, I might scan right over it.
Posted by Sandra @ 10/29/2001 01:01 PM EST
I'm skeptical that the entire paragraph as a link works well at all. I'd like to see test results.
What do you expect to see when you click on the paragraph in the example? I'm not sure if I'd go to microsoft's website, to a restaurant, to a tourist trap? Where?
Would a novice user (if that is relevanta any more) see this paragraph as one link or is each line a link?
Compare this to the short link in the paragraph above it. It is clearer there, I think, exactly what you would see next.
The one benefit of having an entire paragraph as a link, I suppose, is it is easier to aim your mouse at the link. Other than that, I don't see the advantage.
Posted by Tom @ 10/30/2001 10:40 AM EST
A (weak) argument that would favor the use of long links is Fitt's Law, according to which the link will be an easier target to reach. (Fitt's Law: The time required to acquire a target is proportional to the distance to the current position of the pointer, and inversely proportional to the size of the target).
Posted by César @ 10/31/2001 11:18 AM EST
