Re: TECH: Re: Underlining

On 4/11/07, Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...> wrote:

> But that's just one example of a more fundamental fact that web
> authors tend to forget: web pages aren't just documents; they're a
> user interface.  As such, human factors in UI design apply, and
> aesthetics (and traditional typesetting practice) must take a
> backseat.  Most users expect links to be underlined and blue
But getting back to our sheep -- does this still apply
when you have a document like this (my gzb Babel text)
where almost every word is a link?  I'm thinking I'll probably
post a version where the links are not underlined
(maybe bolded instead, maybe just colored according
to the user's defaults?) and have text at the top of the
page saying...

"Click the hyperlinked words and morphemes to get their gloss in the
lower frame. (Links are not underlined here as underlining almost
every word on the page is cluttery and makes characters with
descenders hard to distinguish.)"

Specifically, I was having trouble telling i, j, and j-with-curly-tail
apart when every word was underlined, at least in smaller
font sizes, or o/g.

Underlining is supposed to make links stand out amid the
surrounding non-linked text.  Maybe on a page like this it
makes more sense to highlight the *non*-linked words in
some way, as lighter or italic or smaller font size or something.

--
Jim Henry
http://www.pobox.com/~jimhenry