Why can’t I click on this?!

April 26, 2004

Knowing when to apply an underline format to text on a web page is an important art to master. For those who are accustom to creating printed documents, it can be a more difficult habit to break.

What’s wrong with underlining? On paper, underlining is sometimes used to emphasize section headings or titles. On the web, it’s primarily an indicator of an embedded hyperlink.  For many users, seeing an underlined word or phrase is usually an invitation to click on it. To find yourself clicking and going nowhere is quite frustrating.

As an alternative, bold formatting is a great way to emphasize web copy. It’s eye-catching, and the user is not likely to be prompted to click on it. Other options include font size, font colors and graphic headers.

So to promote a pleasant web-surfing experience, stay away from the CTRL+U and go for the CTRL+B.