I have been wondering for a while what would be the best way of hyperlinking on this blog. I see 3 alternatives:

• boingboing links
I don’t know if these guys invented it but this is where I noticed it first: Put your text, then a Link at the end after a blank space. Flagrant example

• as short as possible links
Links à la memepool, rarely more than one word.

• longer, descriptive links
The way Jason and the people of 37 signals do on Signal vs Noise. Flagrant example

I think that each solution has a good and a down side:

• bb: you can only link to one unique place, links are somehow out of the post context but users know where to find the link and the system is really simple and clean

• short: can mistake users, but better for people quickly scanning a post.

• long: people reading the post can easily open links and leave the story when they wish. People scanning the article will need more time to understand where links go and will probably get frustrated.

I am currently doing a bit of all, and I don’t like it. If only blogs were interactive, and people would use the comments below to voice their opinion on the matter ;-) A quick tour on the currently available literature did not really help me with that dilemma.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 2nd, 2005 at 6:53 pm and is filed under usability, english. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.