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Use text links Usability Guideline

Description

Use text links rather than image links. In general, text links are more easily recognized as clickable.

Help

Text links usually download faster, are preferred by users, and should change colors after being selected. It is usually easier to convey a link’s destination in text, rather than with the use of an image. Users often find it hard to tell which images are clickable without moving the cursor over them (‘minesweeping’). Another benefit to using text links is that users with text-only and deactivated graphical browsers can see the navigation options.

Applicable standards

Note: The guidelines.usability.gov website has been down since July 2020, although www.usability.gov is still operating and the PDF version of the guidelines is still available.

Change history

  • 6.40 Jan 2021 Removed.
  • 5.4 Feb 2014 Fixed false positive.
  • 1.0 Feb 2007 Added.

This page describes a web site issue detected in HTML documents by SortSite Desktop and OnDemand Suite.

Rule ID: UseGov10.6