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WebWord Weblog Posting Posting Date: December 01, 2002 'Click here': Needless words -- "Perhaps when the Web was just catching on — in 1995, say — writing “click here” within links made some sense, to teach new surfers the Web’s fundamental interface element. But those words are meaningless, especially today when people have already learned that clicking links takes you to a page described within the link." (Comments: Via MediaSavvy.)
Reader Comments...
This is snobbery, pure and simple. "Everybody" does not, in fact, already know how links work. "Everybody" is not an experienced surfer with thousands of web-clicks under their belts. Where exactly is the harm in telling people just SLIGHTLY more than they might need to know if it ensures that nobody gets left behind? Did you notice that all the examples cited are of NEWS sites? Now, stop and think for a minute: who goes online to look at news? Sure, a lot of hardcore and experienced online travelers--but also a heckuva lot of first-timers! "Click here" is a welcome tip for someone trying to navigate an unfamiliar environment for the first time, and news sites--particularly online versions of hardcopy papers--are making a very smart choice by assuming zero web experience for their reader base. The arrogance really comes through with Kuhlman's specious analogies: No, you don't need to explain how to take a newspaper out of its plastic sleeve, or how to work a TV remote. But you'll notice each remote does come with its own instruction guide (because every one works differently), and that most front pages tell you where to find related and continuing articles. So much for that brilliant insight. The "wasted words" comment is a dodge--this blogger simply doesn't want novices and their "first-timer features" tracking mud all over his nice clean Web. Experienced users won't be thrown by seeing a "click here," and only the most finicky purist--Kuhlman, for example--would be outraged that such a tacky, outmoded navigation aid is still to be found on some sites offending his cocksure "expert" sensibilities. "Designing for your grandmother" is still not a bad rule for developing sites, and news sites need to follow that policy in spades. Kuhlman has either forgotten or never heard the primary reassurance for coders worried about "talking down to users" whenever usability and UI design are discussed: "Nobody is offended by a clear and straightforward interface."
people have already learned that clicking links takes you to a page described within the link Repeat after me - "I am not other people, I am not other people" I use 'click here', or 'here' sometimes, when it 'feels' more effective than using another word or phrase. As is always the case with these type of guidelines, it may be 'correct' in the general sense, but there will always be times when you can break or bend the guideline to great effect. Posted by: Mac on December 2, 2002 08:57 AM
My father-in-law (a very smart man) has been on-line for several years now, and still gets confused by hyperlinks (especially in emails). The reason is twofold. First, he's not immersed in the net, he has other things to do (playing golf, mainly). He can go for days without using his computer, and doesn't surf for fun. He uses it for specific purposes and for keeping in touch with his family and friends. The problem with many people in our industry is that we forget people like this exist. Second, like many people, he sometimes can't recognise links because they vary in appearance from site to site. It does absolutely no harm to help people like this by including the words 'click here'. Of course, you could always resort to the "it's the stupid users fault" excuse, as someone does in the comments below the article. Does that reflect on you well as a professional? Posted by: Alan Fisher on December 2, 2002 09:15 AM
I said it in the comments there, and I'll say it here for good measure: "click here" is a crystal-clear call to action that demonstrably improves clickthrough rates dramatically in certain instances. One instance where I think we can afford to let brevity (and style) take a backseat to performance. Posted by: Adam Greenfield on December 2, 2002 10:15 AM
Adam is 100% correct.... there is no redundancy in using click here if you want users to do something. We did it on our site and the changes were immediate and measurable. It may be seen as passé for those that have been on the net from day one, but we need to remember that every day there are new users coming online for the first time.
It's not the difference between right and wrong, but rather between good and better; or better and best. Using words (as the link text) that describe the feature or function of the targeted page shows a relationship between that text and its linked page. "Click here" doesn't share anything other than it's an actionable element. Despite what some of the posters have written, links (in the generic sense) are accepted by nearly all of the Web population. Plus there's the issue of having more than one (if not a whole page full) of "click here"s competing for the user's attention. Ugh. "Here's the result" All equally poor. They merely denote a button... but of what kind? Describe the destination. That should be the mantra for link writers. Posted by: boysen on December 2, 2002 02:44 PM
It's also important to remember that for those who use screen readers and depend on Web authors to use meaningful link text, "click here" is meaningless. Imagine using TAB to navigate from link to link in a document and only hearing "link - click here... link - click here... link - click here." Posted by: Joshua Kaufman on December 2, 2002 03:03 PM
Brian (and others), Of course my blog entry is snobbery. My blog is about news sites, not Web design in general, so that's why all the examples are from news sites. After your damning critique, I realize I should have made this point: If sites are "designing for your grandmother," I think it's interesting that the news sites I looked at do not use "click here" to drive readers into news stories. Almost all the "click here"'s are for advertising, self-promotion, etc. There's a difference between the use of "click here" mentioned by Adam and JB, to reduce confusion (on what to experienced users may be a simpler process) and sprinkling "click here" around like animated GIFs to compete for people's attention in a very complex page design. I believe the former is visitor-friendly, the latter is not. I'm now realizing that my main problem -- which I should have expressed in the blog entry itself -- is the different treatment for advertising/marketing versus news itself. As you point out, TV remotes come with the instruction manuals. Television PROGRAMS do not. Granted, my analogy is pointless, but your counterexample doesn't make it specious. For the record: It's Ashby-Kuhlman, not Kuhlman. Posted by: Nathan Ashby-Kuhlman on December 2, 2002 04:29 PM
I'd much rather use a specific call to action rather than the bland, repetitive and annoying "Click here", e.g. "Buy this product", "Download SuperDuperSoftware Now". I don't try to get "click here" taken out of sites out of snobbery, I do it because there are more interesting, helpful, imaginative and effective ways to use hypertext throughout a site. And any increased clickthrough will often be at the expense of the impression the site makes in terms of consistency, tone of copy, etc. (I'm sure if I wanted to increase traffic to a particular page in my site I could do so by using popups and animated ads, but it would undoubtedly be a bad move for the site as a whole).
I think it's important to distinguish the purpose of a "Click here" kind of link. If it is a pleonasm or if it is instead simply a way of grabbing user attention. By the way, to read my comments on the subject, click here. ;-) Posted by: Zelig (Silverio Petruzzellis) on December 2, 2002 08:09 PM
My take on "Click here" is to ALWAYS use these words in conjunction with something else, e.g. "Click here to order" or "Click here to register". I see too many people who make the mistake of only linking those words. I use "Click Here" only if I am designing a website that is meant to appeal to a broad audience that probably includes newbies or infrequent visitors to the 'Net. A banking site, for example. Further, I try not to clutter the page with too many "Click Here"'s. I will choose the most important links that a larger portion of the audience is likely to want to click (or is in the best interest of the client for them to click), and I'll use it there. "Click Here for Online Banking" is one example, but I probably wouldn't do that for links to a mission statement, monthly newsletter, etc. In conjunction with this approach, I will try to design other elements so that links are more obvious - a square picture of people laughing will not be a link to the newsletter portion of the site, for example. Instead, there will be a clearly denoted navigation area that gets the visitor to that part. When I am designing a site where I expect the audience to be more experienced, or if it is a personal site, these rules don't apply as much (or at all). Posted by: Lydia on December 2, 2002 09:14 PM
I work on a web content team that publishes content for a corporate extranet site. When I first got this job, the words "click here" were probably the most dominant words on this web site. When you scanned down a page, I swear that the most significant things that caught my eye were those two damn words! I started a mini-campaign to convince the marketing department to eliminate those words from the links on the site. I will risk sounding like a snob here. I don't think the words "click here" should be used when writing links. The point of writing links is to tell users exactly what they will get when they click on them. If all they see is "click here", they won't know what they are going to get unless they read the rest of the sentence. Using the words "click here" added on to the rest of the words in a link is unnecessary, and, sorry, just sounds outdated. Ok, so I am a snob about it. But I will tell you this - I successfully eliminated the "click here" scourge from the extranet site on which I work, and this resulted in pages that are much more scannable. The copy on the site also looks much more professional. Posted by: on December 4, 2002 09:14 PM
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