Avoid the Two Huge Mistakes Made Often by Designers

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Avoid the Two Huge Mistakes Made Often by Designers

Posted in Website Design Tips	June 16, 2006

Permalink: http://daily.mequoda.com/i//website_design_tips/ensuring_links_and_buttons_do_what_they_afford_182-1.html

By Kim Mateus, Managing Editor Mequoda Daily and Library

Site designers who are more interested in the "look" of a site than its functionality often make two huge mistakes.

They turn off or hide the underlining of hypertext links, removing the visual cue to the user that the links even exist;
They create images for section headings that look like buttons but, in fact, don't execute an action.

If the user is expected to execute an action, use a button with a clear, unambiguous label, placed in a logical location for the desired outcome. Text links should be underlined and change in appearance once the user has visited that page.

Mequoda Library Members Only: If you're a Mequoda Library member, reference Don and Jane's entire chapter, Website Design Guideline #7: Ensuring Links and Buttons Do What They Afford. Or check the full Table of Contents for Website Design for Publishers and Authors.

If you're not a Mequoda Library member, and are interested in accessing the full text of this chapter along with 434 other chapters, start your 14-day FREE trial.

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