Comments on: Is Blue Still The Best Color For Links?

By: Justin

Justin — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 21:50:13 +0000

It’s funny how our minds have been programmed by something as simple as the blue hyperlink. I find it funny because it has not been a standard hyperlink colour for many many years now. Most websites do not use the standard colouring but when they do I tend to notice it myself.

By: Danny

Danny — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:52:40 +0000

I agree that the standard blue isn’t always the best choice aesthetically, however I think our brains are hardwired to search for the links based on the standard. A stop sign is always red, a turn signal is generally amber, etc.
Everything Josh makes is always eye-catching so I will enjoy it regardless of the link color!

By: Jeremy Walsh

Jeremy Walsh — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 03:32:43 +0000

Personally, I don’t think the default link properties are aesthetically pleasing. In most cases, although there could be exceptions, they look uninviting and raw. Although we shouldn’t get too crazy and flashy with links, tying them into the rest of the site always sounds like a good idea to me.

By: Nate Klaiber

Nate Klaiber — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 02:43:04 +0000

@Josh
I completely understand that, in most cases, we are not our clients’ target market. I would not make a design decision based on my own experience (unless I was designing for myself). This is why this is a good topic to discuss. If it was up to us, it would be a different story given our experience and context.

Sounds like you should do some A/B testing with variants in your links, and then report your findings CrazyEgg will help with a heatmap to visualize the results.

By: Josh Walsh

Josh Walsh — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:17:43 +0000

Matt & Nate – You guys share my position, and my occupation. We’re designers who are paid to make things pretty and usable. We’re also not the average internet user.

I’ve decided that aesthetics trump link color usability for me. But, this would be an interesting study to perform on our own designs.

By: Dana Kashubeck

Dana Kashubeck — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:17:08 +0000

I’ve seen those studies, too, and I was surprised by the results. I agree with you, though. Although I can believe that blue links are immediately recognizable, I seriously doubt that using a different color poses a usability problem. As Matt says, as long as the links stand out from the rest of the content somehow and they change color after being visited, then all is good.

By: Nate Klaiber

Nate Klaiber — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:09:33 +0000

Jonathan and I discussed this on the way into work today. I have read the studies and read Nielsen’s books discussing this topic. They make sense. Nielsen, specifically, has a great deal of data to back up this claim.

I think I have always been on the fence with this one. I understand the value in the blue links, but yet sites I work on always tend to have links that correlate to the color scheme chosen by the designer (sometimes that may even be blue).

I think Matt hits a major point, in that it’s about consistency. Links need to be represented the same across the board, to help establish that mental model with the visitors to the site.

By: Matt Becker

Matt Becker — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:25:13 +0000

Josh, this is a great topic for discussion.

I think the familiarity of blue links plays an important role. But, I think being contextual and consistent is just as important. If your link colors for whatever reason do not stand out against the rest of your content (or your readers may have a hard time deciphering content from links), do them a favor and underline them (title tags would be nice, too) and they should always have those same colors/underlines throughout all of the site.

By: Bonnie Domeny

Bonnie Domeny — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 06:16:57 +0000

I struggle with this every time I put out my newsletter. To me the standard blue of links does not look good with the blue that I use for header, sidebar, and headlines.

Sometimes I change the color to match and other times I leave the standard blue. There doesn’t seem to be a difference in the number of “clicks” I get out of the newsletter.