The "here" problem
Kenneth Chang (kchang@ncsa.uiuc.edu)
Tue, 3 Aug 1993 17:59:44 CDT
>>The first is the _here_ syndrome, e.g.:
>>
>> Information about Blah Blah Blah is available by clicking _here_.
>>
>>where the word _here_ is the link. This style is really awkward; when
>>you click on 'here', you have to look around to make sure it is the
>>*right* here. Let me urge you, when you construct your HTML page, to
>>make sure that the thing-you-click is actually some kind of title for
>>what it is when you click there. E.g. say
>>
>> Information about _Blah Blah Blah_ is now available.
>
>Point well taken, but here is a devil's advocate exception:
>For initial pages and for some menus, the click _here_ business
>makes sense. It's a way to make things clear for folks new to
>the Web and to hypertext in general.
I agree that "here" is often annoying. Two problems with this: 1)
on line-mode viewers, it isn't even syntatically correct and 2) it
essentially forces you to back up and read up the entire sentence since
the highlighted text is pretty much content-free.
For the few times that it does make sense, I suggest:
<A HREF="link">Click here</A> for more information.
instead of
More information is <A HREF="link">here</A>.
(or Click <A HREF="link">here</A> for more information.)
By extending the anchor to include "Click", one makes it clearer
what the user is supposed to do, as well as enlarging the target area
to click.
--ken chang
NCSA Publications