Atracting attention to a link

I recently had a 100% failure rate with the two visitors who wanted to
look at some notes that were linked to a web page but did not know how
to do it. The link says Click _here_. It is followed by the usual
advice on getting the Adobe Acrobat Reader and both did that although
they probably already had it. If you want to see the actual page the
relevant bit is at the bottom of <http://shirley.profectus.com.au>.

Should I have used more contrast for the word "here" and/or made the
link text longer? Should I have created a button for the link and, if
so, would "here" be a sufficient label for the button? Other ideas?

David Segall

David Segall wrote:
> I recently had a 100% failure rate with the two visitors who wanted to
> look at some notes that were linked to a web page but did not know how
> to do it. The link says Click _here_. It is followed by the usual
> advice on getting the Adobe Acrobat Reader and both did that although
> they probably already had it. If you want to see the actual page the
> relevant bit is at the bottom of <http://shirley.profectus.com.au>.
>
> Should I have used more contrast for the word "here" and/or made the
> link text longer? Should I have created a button for the link and, if
> so, would "here" be a sufficient label for the button? Other ideas?

Contrast would go along way. Using 'here' for the link is rather bad
practice, far better to put a real description withing the link text:


<a href="http://profectus.com.au/text/PortraitNotes.pdf">Shirley's
notes</a> are mainly reminiscences about the Segall family (PDF 342KB).

--
Take care,

Jonathan
-------------------
LITTLE WORKS STUDIO
http://www.LittleWorksStudio.com

David Segall wrote:

> I recently had a 100% failure rate with the two visitors who wanted to
> look at some notes that were linked to a web page but did not know
> how to do it. The link says Click _here_. It is followed by the usual
> advice on getting the Adobe Acrobat Reader and both did that although
> they probably already had it. If you want to see the actual page the
> relevant bit is at the bottom of <http://shirley.profectus.com.au>.
>
> Should I have used more contrast for the word "here" and/or made the
> link text longer? Should I have created a button for the link and, if
> so, would "here" be a sufficient label for the button? Other ideas?

"Click here" or "here" is never a good text for a link. Google for
numerous past references.

I would change it from:
You can view the notes <a href="text/PortraitNotes.pdf"> here</a>.
to:
<a href="text/PortraitNotes.pdf">View the notes</a>.

and I would change the hover colour to perhaps a pale yellow, rather
than the dull darker gray on medium gray. The link underline is also
quite faint; sharpen that up as well.

Aside: on pages of mine where PDF downloads are available, I include
the usual Adobe Reader link and instructions, but also include same for
alternative readers, usually FoxItReader, and explain that it is much
more lightweight and less intrusive than Adobe.

--
-bts
-Motorcycles defy gravity; cars just suck.

Jonathan N. Little wrote:

> Contrast would go along way. Using 'here' for the link is rather bad
> practice, far better to put a real description withing the link text:
>
>
> <a href="http://profectus.com.au/text/PortraitNotes.pdf">Shirley's
> notes</a> are mainly reminiscences about the Segall family (PDF 342KB).
>

It also would not hurt to repeat the link above in the bio where your
mention Shirley's notes.

--
Take care,

Jonathan
-------------------
LITTLE WORKS STUDIO
http://www.LittleWorksStudio.com

"David Segall" <> wrote in message
news:...
>I recently had a 100% failure rate with the two visitors who wanted to
> look at some notes that were linked to a web page but did not know how
> to do it. The link says Click _here_. It is followed by the usual
> advice on getting the Adobe Acrobat Reader and both did that although
> they probably already had it. If you want to see the actual page the
> relevant bit is at the bottom of <http://shirley.profectus.com.au>.
>
> Should I have used more contrast for the word "here" and/or made the
> link text longer? Should I have created a button for the link and, if
> so, would "here" be a sufficient label for the button? Other ideas?

You could also embed the "Adobe reader" logo into the page.
Using the image as a link.
"if you don't have the reader, you can click the logo and download it".

In article
<HSwQg.195175$>,
"Beauregard T. Shagnasty" <> wrote:

> David Segall wrote:
>
> > I recently had a 100% failure rate with the two visitors who wanted to
> > look at some notes that were linked to a web page but did not know
> > how to do it. The link says Click _here_. It is followed by the usual
> > advice on getting the Adobe Acrobat Reader and both did that although
> > they probably already had it. If you want to see the actual page the
> > relevant bit is at the bottom of <http://shirley.profectus.com.au>.
> >

What others have said. Black text on such a dark grey makes folk
work too hard. About the link, when I provide PDF files, I always
say something about right clicking or control clicking and
downloading so that people do not have to try to open it in a
browser that is not suitably equipped. The link to the Reader is
not enough.

--
dorayme

richard wrote:

>
> "David Segall" <> wrote in message
> news:...
>>I recently had a 100% failure rate with the two visitors who wanted to
>> look at some notes that were linked to a web page but did not know how
>> to do it. The link says Click _here_. It is followed by the usual
>> advice on getting the Adobe Acrobat Reader and both did that although
>> they probably already had it. If you want to see the actual page the
>> relevant bit is at the bottom of <http://shirley.profectus.com.au>.
>>
>> Should I have used more contrast for the word "here" and/or made the
>> link text longer? Should I have created a button for the link and, if
>> so, would "here" be a sufficient label for the button? Other ideas?
>
> You could also embed the "Adobe reader" logo into the page.
> Using the image as a link.
> "if you don't have the reader, you can click the logo and download it".

I always find "you must get Adobe Acrobat" text very annoying.

There is PDF reading software other than Acrobat. It is like saying "you
must use internet explorer" in order to browse the web.

PDF links? I just middle-click them and read the PDF in a browser tab. Very
easy.

--
Jim

Jim Higson <> wrote:
>
>I always find "you must get Adobe Acrobat" text very annoying.
>
>There is PDF reading software other than Acrobat. It is like saying "you
>must use internet explorer" in order to browse the web.
I don't think they are comparable. The standard for web pages is
published by a consortium not associated with any one browser. The PDF
standard was developed and published by Adobe. It is likely that the
Acrobat reader will cope best with the latest PDF version and, in any
case, Adobe deserve the credit of a link even if you choose a
different reader. If it was not for PDF the web would be full
Microsoft Word documents and there is no published standard for them.
>
>PDF links? I just middle-click them and read the PDF in a browser tab. Very
>easy.
Since you did not specify an alternative I assume that means you do
use Acrobat.

On Fri, 22 Sep 2006, Jim Higson wrote:

> PDF links? I just middle-click them and read the PDF in a browser
> tab. Very easy.

Well, at least you know how to use your own browser! But some authors
make the mistake of assuming that all browsers are configured to work
the same as their own, so they offer some wholly misleading
instructions on what the user should do. So some naive users end up
in even more confusion than if there were no instructions on the page,
poor things.

One of the original ideas of the web, I think it's fair to say[1], was
that straightforward things would pretty much work intuitively: after
5-10 minutes familiarisation with a new browser, no further
instructions would be needed (of course, users who wanted to do more
complicated things would expect to have to learn how, but that would
be a function of their browser, *not* normally of the page that
they're reading[2]).

So, IMHO, if authors think that their web page needs a whole swath of
instructions on how to use it, then they're probably doing something
wrong. I'd recommend taking a step back and trying to understand why
it's not working intuitively, as it's meant to.

(It goes without saying that variations on "click here" are ipso facto
the mark of an inept web author, n'est-ce pas?)

regards

[1] To save repeating myself, I offer you this item, written long ago
and referring to some of TimBL's early materials on authoring style:
http://ppewww.ph.gla.ac.uk/~flavell/...ore.html#style

[2] ok, there will be special cases where this doesn't apply.
Puzzles, maybe, for example...

"Alan J. Flavell" <> wrote:

>On Fri, 22 Sep 2006, Jim Higson wrote:
>
>> PDF links? I just middle-click them and read the PDF in a browser
>> tab. Very easy.
>
>Well, at least you know how to use your own browser! But some authors
>make the mistake of assuming that all browsers are configured to work
>the same as their own, so they offer some wholly misleading
>instructions on what the user should do. So some naive users end up
>in even more confusion than if there were no instructions on the page,
>poor things.
>
>One of the original ideas of the web, I think it's fair to say[1], was
>that straightforward things would pretty much work intuitively: after
>5-10 minutes familiarisation with a new browser, no further
>instructions would be needed (of course, users who wanted to do more
>complicated things would expect to have to learn how, but that would
>be a function of their browser, *not* normally of the page that
>they're reading[2]).
>
>So, IMHO, if authors think that their web page needs a whole swath of
>instructions on how to use it, then they're probably doing something
>wrong. I'd recommend taking a step back and trying to understand why
>it's not working intuitively, as it's meant to.
>
>(It goes without saying that variations on "click here" are ipso facto
>the mark of an inept web author, n'est-ce pas?)
>
>regards
>
>[1] To save repeating myself, I offer you this item, written long ago
>and referring to some of TimBL's early materials on authoring style:
>http://ppewww.ph.gla.ac.uk/~flavell/...ore.html#style
>
>[2] ok, there will be special cases where this doesn't apply.
>Puzzles, maybe, for example...