Click here


When you talk about usability, an obvious and long debate (still not closed) come on the old Click here link.

Do you consider this indication as an obsolete and space wasting on an already cluttered page ?

Or do you think we still need to think about first time users of Internet and hyperlinks are not so intuitive ?

For more information you can also read some thoughts on the subjects like:

From Nathan Ashby-Kuhlman :

'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."

From Webword :

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?

From ZeligPlace:

... It's important to understand when "click here" can be considered as a direct "invitation", showing the designer's intention of capturing the user eye with a popular phrase (that become a mere graphic symbol in this case) and compare them with those cases in which the editor simply fell in a pleonasm like in all the "click here to do something" instead of "do somethink" kind of links. "Click here" is in the former case like the equally common "Call Now!" followed by a list of telephone numbers that we often see in commercials or in tele-marketing shows. ...

By the way google return 172 000 entries for Click here !

The debate is open ;-)

 

1 Comment

  • I've always felt that links should be descriptive, they should be intuitive to the user and describe where the link is going, or at least give them a vague idea. If a link says "click here" the user is more than likely going to ignore it, so its not just about new users, its hardened webusers aswell.





    If a link said ".net reflection tutorial" it would more likely to be clicked than one that said "click here" and required you to read the surrounding context to figure out what the link is.





    Click here died a death a long time ago, users are lazy and they will follow the path of least resistance.

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