"Click Here"
June 26th, 2012 by admin
An excellent article went up on UX Movement recently. Not only does the article explain why you should never have links that say "Click Here", but it also gives guidelines for what you should be doing instead.
I'm going to summarize some of the key points here, but if you would rather read the entire article (and I recommend doing so), feel free to skim down to the bottom of the post and follow the link.
What's wrong with "Click Here" anyways?
“Click” Puts Too Much Focus on Mouse Mechanics
You're taking their focus off your web site, and putting the focus on their mouse. Also, please don't insult the people you worked so hard to get to your web site by assuming that they don't know how to follow a hyperlink.
“Here” Conceals What Users are Clicking
Hiding a destination under the word "here" forces the user to go back and figure out what it is that they're likely to find under "here". Now they have to re-read the context around the word and hope that they gather the same understanding that you were intending to convey.
Phrasing Links the Right Way
Link to Nouns
Nouns are easy to scan and understand, whereas verbs are vague and don't give a clear expectation. Good noun links also allow a user that's just trying to find a link they saw before to quickly and easily scan through your content to find the link. In short, it makes it easier to find the information they're after.
Link to Specifics
Use specificity in your noun selection, use the name of the cd, album, song, article, book, product line, product solution, service, etc.
End on a Link
Structure your sentence so that the link appears at the end. Placing the link near the front requires the user to read the entire sentence, then go back and find the link. By carefully phrasing your sentence so that the link is at the end, they're eyes are already on the link when they pause at the period.
UX Movement is a progressive user experience blog that's devoted to improving the way designers design user interfaces. Full article posted on 6/20/2012.
Posted in: web tips