58135 - visual cue when mousing over link to named anchor in same document

Status: NEW

(Core :: Layout, enhancement, P5)

Description

[Tim Taylor]

Jakob Nielsen suggests providing more cues as to the nature of links contained
in a document.  His example involved prefetching to display links to unchanged,
cached documents or broken links in a different manner.

I have a similar suggestion.  For links to named anchors within the same
document, display a different mouse pointer when mousing over the link.
Specifically, display either an up or down arrow, depending on whether the named
anchor occurs earlier or later in the document.

This reinforces the idea that the user is moving within the current document.
This isn't always clear in large documents.  It also provides a cue that
following the link will be fast, since you won't be requesting a new resource.

Apologies for my ignorance of XUL and brethren if this is a simple matter.
Nevertheless, I believe it's a useful enough feature to include in the base install.

Comment 1

[Matthew T (active 1999-2002)]

Confirming. This is a good idea, but I'm not sure that changing the cursor would 
be the best implementation. Ideally you should be able to tell which links are 
internal and which are not, without having to `scrub' over them to see the hover 
effect. IE indicates internal links in a half-hearted sort of way by using the 
visited link color for them.

I suggest using a different underline style to indicate internal links. See also 
bug 14027, where I suggested using a different underline style for links which 
will open in a different window.

Comment 2

[hangas]

Sending to German

Comment 3

[german]

Here I would have to say that the utility of having this feature outweighs the
loss of simplicity in navigating the web, when always visible. I like the
original idea on mouseover though, I could image a different tooltip (since we
can completely customize them even with graphics in mozilla), some cue in the
status area along with the link info. assigning to ben as the default mozilla ui
person to see whether he has other ideas

Comment 4

[Matthew T (active 1999-2002)]

Contrary to what I wrote in bug 14027, I now suggest using a dotted underline for 
links to internal anchors, and a double underline for links which will open in a 
new window. I think this would be more intuitive. Ben, if you agree, I'll do the 
QA legwork (filing dependencies etc) since this wouldn't be your bug to fix.

Comment 5

[Tim Taylor]

I prefer Mathew's latest suggestion of different underline styles over my
original suggestion of changing the mouse pointer.  I also agree with German on
adding an indicator to the status bar.  I don't see these as mutually exclusive
enhancements.  However, if it's a matter of choosing only one, I rate them as
follows, in decreasing preference:

	* different underline style
	* status bar
	* mouse pointer

Mathew is right; user's shouldn't have to "scrub" links.  German's suggestion
for info in the status bar is preferred over altering the mouse pointer.  The
status bar is already the standard location for displaying link meta-information
and users know to look there [1].  Furthermore, the meta-information in the
status bar reinforces the meaning of the different underlines, making it easier
for users to learn the different underline styles.  Altering the mouse pointer
is a finishing touch because it provides an indicator as to where in the current
document the named anchor will take you.

German wrote:
> Here I would have to say that the utility of having this feature
> outweighs the loss of simplicity in navigating the web, when always visible.

I'm not sure if I understand your comment.  Do you mean that altering the link
underline is bad because it complicates navigation?  If that's what you mean, I
disagree.  As long as the number of different underline styles is kept low they
help you better understand navigating.  A few different underline styles won't
be overwhelming [2].  Or is that what you meant?  :)

[1] actually, I bet a usability study would show that many users /don't/
understand the purpose of the status bar.  But, status bar is still the standard
location for link meta-information.  And, for that matter, all of my assertions
about what makes navigation easier or harder for the user should really be
tested with a usability study.  What I'm really suggesting is what makes mozilla
more useful for me :)

[2] well...no more so than allowing authors to change link color or decoration,
which is a bane to usability

Comment 6

[Matthew T (active 1999-2002)]

German's not in this bug no more, so he can't see your questions. Anyway, I filed 
bug 59109, which will block this bug if Ben agrees that using a dotted underline 
would be an appropriate implementation for this.

Comment 7

[Michael Nahrath]

Tim, web authors will hate you if you change the look of link underlining
without them taking the action. Think of all the pages that use
 a {text-decoration:none} !

Changing the cursor doesn't change (some will say: "break") the rendering of
existing sites and works allso on images and image maps.

Nowadays authors do so much changes to link-color and -styling that changing the
default style for certain types of links will hardly improve user-experience and
accessibility (how would diferent underlining work on the W3C core styles?).

Think that each author could easyly style links to different directions by using
<a href="..." class="samepage"> today! 

Comment 8

[Tim Taylor]

Michael Nahrath wrote:
> Tim, web authors will hate you if you change the look of link
> underlining without them taking the action. Think of all the
> pages that use
> a {text-decoration:none} !

Simple.  No underline of any kind is displayed, just as the page author 
requested.

> Changing the cursor doesn't change (some will say: "break") the rendering of
> existing sites and works allso on images and image maps.

Yes, but requiring the user to "scrub" links is bad usability.  It's a nice cue 
in addition to different link styles.

> Nowadays authors do so much changes to link-color and -styling that changing 
the
> default style for certain types of links will hardly improve user-experience 
and
> accessibility (how would diferent underlining work on the W3C core styles?).

Using the example of authors who reduce the usability of /their/ pages by 
removing link underlines is /not/ a valid argument against increasing the 
usability of pages designed to leave underlined links entact.

I don't understand how this enhancement would interfere with the W3C core 
styles.  Please explain.

> Think that each author could easyly style links to different directions by 
using
<a href="..." class="samepage"> today! 

I also don't understand what you mean by this.

Comment 9

[Zach Lipton [:zach]]

Chaning the qa contact on these bugs to me. MPT will be moving to the 
owner of this component shortly. I would like to thank him for all his hard 
work as he moves roles in mozilla.org...Yada, Yada, Yada...

Comment 10

[Ben Goodger (use ben at mozilla dot org for email)]

Helpwanted, [e-mail]

Comment 11

[xyzzy]

Edit->Preferences->Appearance->Colors->Link Colors->Underline Links now allows
users to turn off the underlining.

I have always hated the underlining style, and use this pref, but I like the
idea of using other styles as suggested in this bug.  There must be an
alternative to underlining that will allow me to have this enhancement
independent of the preference.