Comments on: Watch Those Underlines! http://www.meryl.net/2002/02/watch-those-underlines/ Content on writing, tech, business, marketing, web design. Thu, 04 Dec 2008 22:17:55 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.3 By: NJ Meryl http://www.meryl.net/2002/02/watch-those-underlines/#comment-203 NJ Meryl Fri, 15 Feb 2002 18:21:10 +0000 http://meryl.net/new/2002/02/15/watch-those-underlines/#comment-203 <p>Yeah, it can be aggravating, but it can also be a nice style design. The best of both worlds are the no-underline links that have javascript rollovers, so they change color or size when you put your mouse on them. But they really should be easily identifiable. For instance, make all links the same color, and never use that color anywhere else on your site. And make sure that color stands out.</p> <p>I think it's also pretty acceptable to remove the underlining in what is obviously a menu. For example: "About | Site Map | Home | Mission Statement" --you'd have to be a complete intenet idiot not to realize those are links, so sure, you can remove the underline there.</p> <p>But you do need to use common sense, and Amazon sure didn't.</p> <p>By the way, I've learned all of these things the old-fashioned way. By screwing up first.</p> Yeah, it can be aggravating, but it can also be a nice style design. The best of both worlds are the no-underline links that have javascript rollovers, so they change color or size when you put your mouse on them. But they really should be easily identifiable. For instance, make all links the same color, and never use that color anywhere else on your site. And make sure that color stands out.

I think it’s also pretty acceptable to remove the underlining in what is obviously a menu. For example: “About | Site Map | Home | Mission Statement” –you’d have to be a complete intenet idiot not to realize those are links, so sure, you can remove the underline there.

But you do need to use common sense, and Amazon sure didn’t.

By the way, I’ve learned all of these things the old-fashioned way. By screwing up first.

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