Steve Bennett wrote:
On 10/13/06, Timwi timwi@gmx.net wrote:
I'm surprised you think that's better. "Click here" links are generally considered evil, and I generally agree with that. "Click here to do X" only tells me how to do X *now*, not where to go if I ever want to do X.
The only justification I've seen for them being considered "evil" was that it's redundant: you're on the web, you click on hyperlinks, therefore a hyperlink that says "click here" is redundant.
That is by far not the only justification.
Consider something like this:
Click _here_ to change your user preferences. Click _here_ to view a random article. Click _here_ to submit a bug report.
Compare that in readability and usability with this:
* _Change your user preferences_ * _View a random article_ * _Submit a bug report_
There are so many advantages to the latter that I don't even know where to begin listing them. (1) The links are like command buttons: what they do is written right on them, not somewhere next to them. (2) The links are bigger and therefore easier to click. (3) The links have unique text and are therefore easier to navigate to via the keyboard. (4) Google indexing. (5) This list of links will stick up much more visibly if there is a paragraph on text above and below it. (6) Extra explanatory text could be added to the right of those links that can be ignored by users who find the link text clear enough already (it is visually separated from the link). (7) This may sound silly, but I always thought "click here" is a manifestation of this emerging mentality that the user should to something for the computer, not the other way around. The latter option gives the user more of a feeling of being in control.
So my reasoning says that if you're quickly navigating an interface, and you know that the link to change your user parameters is there somewhere, a link that says "click here to change your user parameters" is quicker and easier to use than some text that says "There are various <A...>user parameters</A> that you can set, including <A...>language</A> and <A...>stylesheet</A."
I agree with this. But as I'm sure you know, this is not an argument for "click here" links (it's the false dilemma fallacy).
Timwi