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Shel Holtz
Communicating at the Intersection of Business and Technology
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Reveal those links, Nielsen says

How many blogs do you see that spell out the URLs of each link contained in a post? Links are one of the defining elements of blogs. It’s the links the build the communities and heighten visibility. In my Web writing workshop, I urge participants to get links out of the narrative and into a “more information” box as a means of reducing distraction and keeping readers focused on your content. But not in blogs. Links in the narrative are at the very heart of blog writing.

So how distracting would it be for someone reading a blog post to have to stop every few lines because in addition to a key word or two, the author has thrown in (perhaps in parantheses) the entire URL of the site to which the words are linked? According to Jakob Nielsen, the Web’s best known usability authority, the roadblock to readability these URLs would create isn’t an issue. In fact, according to the first installment of a discussion with Nielsen about blogs by Silicon Valley Watcher’s Tom Foremski, links hidden behind words are one of the things he likes least about blogs: “That does not work, users want to know where the link will take them. It should be clearly labeled and not hidden.”

So let’s take a look at the last part of that paragraph as Nielsen would have it:

In fact, according to the first installment of a discussion with Nielsen (http://www.siliconvalleywatcher.com/mt/
archives/2005/03/iave_been_tryin.php) about blogs by Silicon Valley Watcher’s Tom Foremski, links hidden behind words are one of the things he likes least about blogs: “That does not work, users want to know where the link will take them. It should be clearly labeled and not hidden.”

And that’s with just one URL in the paragraph. The question, then, is whether readability should trump the desire to know where each link will take you. I don’t think so. Many links are meaningless even with the entire URL spelled out, and people read blogs primarily for the information, clicking links out of curiosity about what the reader has found to show them. I certainly don’t have Nielsen’s usability background, but my advice: Go ahead and keep those links hidden—and your readers engaged.

03/31/05 | 7 Comments | Reveal those links, Nielsen says

Comments

  • 1.Another way to do this, and meet both ends of Nielsen's discussion [1], is through footnoting. Pulls out the link and makes it transparent, yet much less interruptive to the flow. This also works really well sending plaintext email.

    [1] - http://www.siliconvalleywatcher.com/mt/
    archives/2005/03/iave_been_tryin.php

    Christopher Carfi | March 2005

  • 2.I would agree, especially since you provided an excellent example. There are many other ways to show where links will take the user. The status bar is where I typically look and that has been a standard for many years now. I do like how some blogs provide a little icon for external links. Title tags could also be used but browsers handle those differently.

    Footnoting is a great idea. As a blogger, it means more work but for posts with lots of links, it would be the best way to go.

    Britt | March 2005

  • 3.Jakob Nielsen rarely goes off the rails, but this is one place where I have to disagree with him.

    Christopher's suggestion inadvertantly shows why it's just easier to do the link and not try footnotes, etc. In his comment, the URL is truncated. If I wanted to following it, I would have to clip and paste twice into my browser, then double check to get it right.

    Way easier just to have linked the article.

    Oh, and Shel.... like the new photo. You look much more jovial.

    Allan Jenkins | March 2005 | Copenhagen

  • 4.Just to clarify: I wasn't talking about putting the URL next to a link. I was talking about being explicit about what users will get if they click on a link, but using human-readable language to say so.

    In your article, "Nielsen about blog usability" would be a good link, whereas "installment" would be a bad one (though made workable by the explanation later in the paragraph of what the installment was about).

    But many blogs use links like "neat stuff" where you get no clue about (a) what type of neat stuff is at the other end or (b) who's talking about that stuff. Those are the worst links. No information scent.

    Jakob Nielsen | March 2005

  • 5.Ah... Jakob er tilbage paa skinnerne.

    Allan Jenkins | March 2005 | Copenhagen

  • 6.As with so many things: it depends. There's one blog I read (written by a musician friend) which works links into somewhat unrelated narrative, and part of the fun is seeing where the links lead. Of course, he's good at finding interesting places to link that seem irrelevant but often turn out to be germane to his topic, so it's quite good. And a bit of work for him, I suspect.

    John | March 2005 | Houston, TX

  • 7.That certainly makes better sense, Dr. Nielsen; in fact, it's what I teach in my Web writing workshop. Links need to be explicit so readers are not surprised by what they find. However, some blogs can diverge from this if their intent is to create a certain amount of serendipity. Blogs can be looser, I think, if they're not business-focused blogs (like this one) and the goal is more fun than speedy access of desired content.

    Shel Holtz | March 2005 | West Hills, CA

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