It's hard to imagine what the world would be like if everything had immediate directions attached to it, like "Insert Key Here" or "Change Diaper Now," so why do most websites say "Click Here" for links to direct you somewhere else? Most amateur web designers put the text "Click Here" for links, which can get very redundant when listing many links on one page. For most people, that would be extremely confusing. Imagine a webpage full of links that all said "Click Here for videos" and "Click Here for images" and "Click Here to view my profile" and...well, you get the idea.

The idea here is to design and develop webpages with the end-user (the person browsing the site) in mind. If the end-user sees a lot of "Click Here" links, it would get very confusing and they wouldn't know where to click and when. You can actually decrease the amount of text on a page by 10-15% by taking out the actual text of "Click Here" and just make the link reflect the content behind it. Reference the example below for a quick comparison:

See how a simple text review can reduce eye-strain and increase ease-of-viewing? A book called Don't Make Me Think by Steve Krug discusses many different methods on how to decrease "thinking time" when viewing a website. Long story short: you want your end-user to think less when they view your site so they don't have to question what or where things are. The more they question what or where things are, the more reasons they have to leave. This topic will be discussed in more detail in a later issue.

This actually ties into another topic (which will also be discussed later), which deals with "Scanning Pages." Most people don't actually read a webpage . they scan it for the information they want. When was the last time you actually read every word on a page of directions while baking a cake, or driving to your friend's house? Most people scan the page for keywords or phrases that relate to their situation, such as "3 eggs" or "Turn left." This is the same concept, only with webpages instead of cakes or driving.

To put it simply: compare "Turn here to take this exit" versus "Exit Only" - which is easier to read? Making the web an easier place to browse and work is easier than most people think, and this is only Step #1 in making that dream come true.