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Google Prototype Hides Underlines  (View post)

James Xuan [PersonRank 10]

Thursday, July 23, 2009
14 years ago6,066 views

I love it. Very clean, more whitespace, however, the text should be aligned to where the strip across the top ends, not where it currently is.

Ianf [PersonRank 10]

14 years ago #

From a purely ergonomic point of view, this is highly welcome news: blue-but-not-underlined text links in Google's search results column being momentarily enhanced by underlines in response to mouse hover… a very unobtrusive, yet undisputedly dynamic way to remind the reader that this is hypertext, not static ditto. Let's hope this will get adopted wholesale by Google Ours That Art In Mountain View, California.
http://blogoscoped.com/files/google-prototype-hidden-underlines.png

David [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

I hate it. You can't see if it's a link or not. Links should always be underlined.

fourtwoseven [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

It's a mixed bag for me. I would prefer to have the actual result underlined, and then all other links not. Or possibly some sort of indenting on the text below each result.

The blue text alone does not do enough to visually delineate each item. Though, I could definitely do with less underlined text overall.

James Xuan [PersonRank 10]

14 years ago #

Who searches for something and goes "SHIT! There are no links, just lots of random words!" or "OMG where do I click? I can't tell what's a link and what isn't!"

1999 was ten years ago people...

Michael [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

Personally, On my own website, I highly prefer this – underline on hover only... But with Google, it feels like something is missing... The underlines not only make it more recognizable as a link.. but also as a _separator_ from the website text... It just kind of blends with the rest of the page _too_ well... So personally, not a huge fan – at least for Search result pages...

yvg [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

Bad idea. Blind-color people won't make the difference between text and links. Links should always be underlined.

Jérôme Flipo [PersonRank 10]

14 years ago #

Looks more like Friendfeed :)

PhilipB [PersonRank 1]

14 years ago #

Glad to be of help, Philipp. :)

Neil Fraser [PersonRank 1]

14 years ago #

In my experience graphic designers hate the blue underlines, but users (myself included) really like them. It will be interesting to see what Google's final results are.
Either way, if you don't like the result they pick, most browsers will let you create a client-side style sheet which overrides whatever the site specifies.

Matthew [PersonRank 0]

14 years ago #

Links should always be underlined, everywhere on the internet. That screenshot looks really, really wonky from a user standpoint, and don't get me started on the colorblind.

Andrew DeFaria [PersonRank 1]

14 years ago #

I don't understand it! Since inception of browsers just about there's been this setting now under Tools: Options: Content: Colors called Underline Links. I have long since stated my preference as – I DON'T WANT UNDERLINES ON MY LINKS!!! link color is enough for me! Why do web page designers mess it with?!? Now Google's claiming they invented this cleaner look?!? Poppycock! I've been having underlineless links for years now (save for those crappy web pages that insist on overriding my stated preference!). What you guys can't see colors? Oh and blue is not the only color that can be used. Just don't use the link color for non-links!

Michael Schwarz [PersonRank 1]

14 years ago #

I got this result when I installed my Firefox updates yesterday. In IE8 I still have the underline, thought it could be a problem with the new Firefox only.

Cormac [PersonRank 3]

14 years ago #

[put at-character here]YVG – Colour blind people have trouble distinguishing between green and red in the vast majority of cases, it does not affect perception of blue.

Mrrix32 [PersonRank 10]

14 years ago #

[put at-character here]Andrew
I think everyone reading the blog and posting in the forum is aware that not all links are blue.... do you see a blue link on this site?

Google isn't claiming they've invented a new look, they're just trying it out with a few people to see how well it works compared to their current layout.

[put at-character here]James
Although everyone who has ever used a search engine will know where the links are, it might be a good idea to keep the underline. As stated the colour of links can be different on different sites. If a site removes the underlining how can a user tell that it's a link?

In short: Everyone knows where the links are, but it's still a good idea to use the same rules for every website.

Ben Allen [PersonRank 10]

14 years ago #

I personally like it. It's so squeaky clean. How about Google makes a preference option?

macbeach [PersonRank 6]

14 years ago #

Didn't this use to be an option on all browsers? Seems to me that's where it belongs, along with what color links are, font sizes etc. It's getting to be so that browser options are ignored and you have to configure everything on a site by site basis... and do it all over again every time your cookies get erased or expire.

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