Und Nielsen-Lesen macht doch Sinn

Nachdem Jakob Nielsen ja vor ein paar Wochen angedroht hatte, in der nächsten Alertbox das Thema "Links" zu verarbeiten, hatte ich mich schon seelisch darauf eingestellt, eine Empfehlung zu lesen, die da lautet "Links stehen im Text, werden unterstrichen und sind blau". Siehe auch Nielsen-Bashing again (Visited Links).

Ich habe dem Mann bitter unrecht getan. Die entsprechende Alertbox vom 10. Mai 2004 liest sich zwar gewohnt apodiktisch aber in vielen Punkten absolut vernünftig, pragmatisch und lässt sogar Raum für andere Einflussgrössen bei Designentscheidungen als die pure Usability. Mit einer kleinen Prise Salz ein Must-Read für jeden Webdesigner (selbst wenns manchmal weh tut)!

Auszüge:

• To maximize the perceived affordance of clickability, color and underline the link text. Users shouldn't have to guess or scrub the page to find out where they can click.
• Assuming the link text is colored, it's not always absolutely necessary to underline it.
• There are two main cases in which you can safely eliminate underlines: navigation menus and other lists of links. However, this is true only when the page design clearly indicates the area's function. (Remember: your design might not be as obvious to outside users as it is to your own team members.) Users typically understand a left-hand navigation rail with a list of links on a colored background, assuming it resembles the navigation areas on most other sites.
• ...
• Don't underline any text that's not a link, even if your links aren't underlined. Reserve underlining for links. Because underlines provide a strong perceived affordance of clickability, users will be confused and disappointed if underlined text doesn't have an actual affordance to match this perception.
• Use different colors for visited and unvisited links.
• Never show text in your chosen link colors unless it's a link.
• You should generally avoid color for text unless it's a link. However, assuming it differs from the link color, you can sometimes use colored text without causing major usability problems. For example, in a checklist summary, you could show the word "okay" in green and the word "error" in red. (The fact that the word meanings are clearly different provides the required redundant cue for color-blind users.)
• Don't use blue for non-link text, even if you don't use blue as your link color. Blue is still the color with the strongest perceived affordance of clickability.
• ...

Immer noch starker Tobak für einen "Kreativen" aber als prinzipielle Guidelines mit dem Recht zu Ausnahmen eine wirklich extrem brauchbare Sammlung konkreter Empfehlungen.