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When you are creating
a link, make sure that the text in the link is meaningful.
The link text should flow naturally
within the document and should not inhibit readability.
Early
Web documents often used the text "Click Here" as
the link. For example:
Click
here >
A better way to create
the link is to use the text "View
the sample document" as a link. For example:
View
the sample document >
It's also important
to indicate what's going to happen when a visitor clicks
on the link. The accepted convention is that they will be
taken to a new page, so if your link is to another page on
your site, no explanation is necessary. But if the link triggers
a download, of a PDF document, an image or other type of
file, you must indicate that in your link. For example:
Download
the document (PDF) >
Download
the application (Microsoft Word document) >
If the visitor has
their browser set up to download files in the background,
they may not know that a download has begun, and click the
link numerous times and assume the link is broken. The basic rule of
thumb: try to anticipate the visitor's expected behavior.
After
you have finished creating a document that contains hypertext
links, you should check the links to make sure
they are valid links. It is very frustrating, when you are
reading an HTML document, to be given an error message when
you follow a link. |
