Yes, why is that? This question was prompted after reading a Smashing Magazine blog post about usability and web design. One of the suggestions was to “follow conventions” by placing website features in similar locations or presenting them in a similar manner to enable visitors to predict and access content easier. An example given was highlighting links in blue, or at the least, displaying them in a contrasting color from the font surrounding it. This is all well and good, but returning to the main question, during one of my many wanderings on the internet, I went to see if there is indeed a story behind this internet norm.
It turns out that blue was likely first used since it was the darkest color next to black that was available on early versions of browsers…I was expecting something more significant too…
It is intriguing though to think about what motivates our daily actions and whether those actions makes sense. In this case, by default links were initially blue, and now taking into consideration usability, most—if not all—links will continue to be that color. (It could have been worse, though, like the color of mustard after it has been mixed with ketchup…)
Information on the origin of blue links can be credited to a blog post by professor Anders Fagerjord.
The Smashing Magazine blog post can be viewed here.
2 Comments
Color is very interesting topic. In this case, I think, any serious discussion should include the limitations of the devices displaying the color, as you have already started. In the early days of the internet we had this notion of 'web safe' colors. Essentially this was a color pallet limited to shallow bit-depth (8-bit) of colors. A good analogy to help understand how bit-depth impacts the user, is to think about a box of crayons. Early on we only had the 4 and 8 crayon boxes and only a few had the 16 and 256 crayon boxes. Due to these limitations, we had to assume a limited pallet to present an effective experience to the widest possible audience. As time and technology have progressed more and more people have the capability to experience richer colors.
So, that explains some of the technical constraints web designers had to work with, another is the physiological implications of color. I'm nor expert here, but have often of the positive attributes darker shades of blue possess. Trustworthy, and sincere come to mind. So it would make sense to have a link be a high contrast blue, it feels more secure. This is why so many corporate logos are blue.
Richard, thanks for your comments. Your point about the impact of color as an explanation for why links continue to be blue is very interesting. Speaking about the power of color, studies have shown that athletes perform better in a blue setting. Researchers hypothesize that it relates to the calming and focusing effects of the color.