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Link states
Links change appearance when they are hovered over 12.3% of the time. This can aid usability by clarifying what areas of the screen are clickable. Links do not change appearance when they have been visited. For optimal accessibility it is recommended to distinguish most links the user has already visited. Google, for example, uses purple links for this purpose.
Very poor
Links do not change appearance when selected. Focused links are links which the user has selected, for example by clicking on them or selecting them with the keyboard. For people who are unable to use a mouse, focused links are their primary means of seeing what they have selected. For optimal accessibility it is recommended to distinguish focused links - for example, by changing their colour.
Specify a distinct visited CSS pseudo class for all links, wherever appropriate. Specify a distinct focus CSS pseudo class for all links, wherever appropriate. Specify a distinct hover CSS pseudo class for all links, wherever appropriate.
Recommendations
Hovered-over links
Visited links
distinct
distinct
Focused links
Active links
distinct
distinct
Link state distinctions Link state
Distinction
hover
Coverage Comments 12.3%
Purpose
87.7% of links omit a distinct style.
Shown when links are hovered over. Recommended for usability.
backgroundposition
6.9%
color
5.4%
text-decoration
0.3%
font-weight
0.3%
visited
None
None
Should define a distinct style.
Shown when a link has been visited. Recommended for usability.
focus
None
None
Should define a distinct style.
Shown when a link is selected, e.g. with a keyboard. Recommended for accessibility.
active
None
None
Should define a distinct style.
Shown when a link is being clicked, and as an equivalent to focus for old versions of Internet Explorer. Recommended to ensure focus works for old browsers.
10/10/2010 2:08 PM