The good folks at W3C offer lots of web tips and recommended practices.
Recently, we came across a QA Tip on the language of links. Naturally, as this relates to online copywriting, we thought we’d weigh in with some heavy thinking of our own.
In a nutshell, the advice regarding links is to:
- Provide some info if the link is read out of context (i.e. scanned by the reader)
- Explain what the link offers
- Don’t talk about mechanics
- Avoid verb phrases
Most of this seems like good advice. For example, it’s recommended that you say:
Get Amaya
instead of
To download W3C’s editor/browser Amaya, click here.
This is sensible. To a reader who is scanning the page, “click here” is pretty meaningless. And likewise, “Get Amaya” is just plain more concise and better copywriting that the second phrase.
But what about the advice to avoid verbs? For instance, on a page written in the first person, how should one handle Contact Me? Is it:
Contact Me?
or
Contact Me?
Here’s one more example: when we want to download something, we noticed that our usual habit is to scan the page for the word “download” in the body text (if there isn’t a big honking download button). So, we’d recommend:
Download Amaya
as opposed to:
Download Amaya
Our reasoning is that on a page that may have many “Amaya” links, the word “Download” will stand out and draw the viewers attention.In all fairness, this QA Tip from W3C was written in 2001 by Aaron Schwartz and descended from thinking by Tim Berners Lee back in 1992. Much respect to both!
Here at Online Copywriter, we’re sensing a sea change when it comes to links using verbs. Are verbs still verboten?
Tell us what you think. Or tell us what you think. Whatever.
6 comments
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April 2, 2007 at 9:07 am
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March 20, 2007 at 7:27 pm
karl dubost, w3c
Hi, interesting.
Why not sending your suggestions to www-qa@w3.org ?
March 26, 2007 at 8:41 am
LandLogic
Interesting subject. One my team is dealing with right now. In the examples it seems that the link phrases have been shortened to a point of confusion.
In both the “contact me” and “download Amaya” examples it seems to me that both words should be linked. That way they form a phrase that can be understood out of context.
In the examples of linking only “me” or “Amaya” I would assume that I would get to a page introducing Amaya or “me.” Maybe later in the content I would expect to find another device to actually download the content or make the contact.
So maybe the “no verb” advice should be changed. We often look at our navigation based on the presence or absence of a verb. We use the presence of a verb as an indication that we are offering a “pull” vs. “push” option to a visitor. Sometimes a verb based label is best if clustered with other verb based labels to create a navigation system. This allows us to pull some of the links out of the prose where is it harder to scan.
Great topic.
LandLogic
March 30, 2007 at 11:54 am
Joe Murphy
Why not link the whole phrase: Contact me, Download Amaya etc.? Like LandLogic wrote, linking one word doesn’t give much context.
March 30, 2007 at 2:12 pm
David Anderson
Verbs are a really tough call. The advice that the W3C page relies on is seven years old at the youngest. And, frankly, it looks like it’s based largely on the opinions of two individuals whose linguistic expertise is unstated.
Seven years is an eon. I’d like to see some usability research on the subject. Or, at the very least, the recommendation of language experts.
Or we could just go with “click here”. According to Google, it’s pretty popular with everyone from Adobe to, well, everyone.
April 9, 2007 at 8:28 pm
hal990
Thanks everyone for the comments. Clearly, the language of linking is an area of hot interest for many online writers.