Well going back a little in history, we can notice that the use of the links in the most known format was due to some main factors. And in the early 90’s its use was much needed due to the few resources available at the time.
A well-known line by Tim Berners-Lee ( creator of WWW ) was:
"The WWW (World Wide Web) consists of documents and links." 1991
- How the text Blue and underlined?
Due to this importance it was necessary to differentiate the rest of the text so that the link was more easily recognized.
The use of underlined texts has always been regarded as bad practice (Underlined.. Absolutely not!), and so almost no text had this feature. That’s why the use of underlining was chosen to represent a link.
- Okay, I see why the underscore is blue?
According to some sources (Link,Link2), This was an accident of history: by the time the WWW prototype was being created, most computers had a limitation that was the total colors available on the display (at the time 16). And the blue was the second darkest color out of black. So the choice and definition of the link as we see so long .
Blue and Underlined Link
- Why there was the migration in the formatting of Links?
This started due to a Google decision in 2014, which decided to remove this old formatting in your search engine results (Google removes link underlining). Decision this made mainly by the then director of designer Jon Wiley, who according to him:
"Improve the way of reading and create a cleaner environment overall"
Some other various sites at the time following the same strand followed the same pattern and changed the formation of their links.
The Nngroup website that is focused on user experience published at the time an excerpt about links that says:
"The position of the links can help you determine whether it is necessary to underline or not. The navigation menu and lists, especially along the peripheral areas of the page, do not require underlining. Your locations identify them as links."
Full text: Beyond Blue Links: Making Clickable Elements Recognizable
- So why does this (underlined) formatting remain today in some places?
Although new technologies, new design ideas and possibilities have emerged, the formatting of the link has remained the same in some places because, helps beginners in technology a quick understanding of what they can access and what they have visited (Dark blue link), helps users in general to focus on important points on the page that can lead to other locations. According to Product Designer and Developer Lee Munroe, the user does not read, often he simply scans (Definitive Guide to Web Links).
In addition, people with discromatism (see only white and black) and color blindness (see mixed colors), have no difficulty finding an underscore. Something that does not occur with Links that have only differentiated COLOR.
And complementing some design professionals still understand that old formatting is still ideal in the relationship design x practicality
Finally, as personal opinion I believe that the decay of the use of links underlined occurred due to the new trends that companies/ people seek for all areas, and the links, by already maintaining the same format for so long tend to fall into the sights of these new trends of design patterns. In my view actually the withdrawal of this old pattern helps in visualization (when the page has many links).
I believe that this is a situation very linked to Design and/or UI/UX. That is, it is necessary to understand the concept of what you are building. As the underscore was standard and was widespread, it ended up becoming very common (like the good old sans comic) so it fell into disuse. As for the stylization of underlining, dotted for example, this style has to be in accordance with the other elements of the site/application. I think the concept of underlining is still very tied to hyperlinks, which is why it is so difficult to see it in other situations. Summary, you are not prevented from using, underlined in
– Thiago Santos
With this minimalist trend that exists today in the UX market and as most people have learned over time to identify and understand what a link is, this must have motivated this disuse. But one link pattern I see is that the link is always in the color blue as the Stack Overflow site itself. The use of underlining can be more associated with very long texts, Wikipedia leaves underlining only when the user hovers the mouse on the link, highlighting with the blue color.
– user3453562
The underlined hyperlink has become one of the most common and recognizable features of our online experience. The links are easy to find because users understand that the underlined text means it is a link. The underscore draws their attention. When you remove charges for users, you avoid delays and provide quick access to the content you want. Blue underlined text is just one of many ways to indicate that a link is a link (but because it has been the convention for so long, you really shouldn’t use blue underlined text for non-links).
– user60252
I can not say anything, but I would like to opine, I think it is probably "like", the underlined links resemble older sites, which does not usually please the developers or even the end user, perhaps because it seems strange amid so many "new effects"I still notice in articles and some pages. Very interesting question, I will follow on favorites (well that the favorites could notify us of new answers and edits :/)
– Guilherme Nascimento
That is why I did not answer, because I was only thinking, but I still do not know if you will find something that does not fall into opinion, no matter how good the answer seems.
– Guilherme Nascimento
https://ux.stackexchange.com/q/7064
– EMBarbosa