Re: Visited link style in navigation?

Context plays a key role here - when new and unfamiliar information  
is being explored (news site), the visited rule can play an  
informative role, and an elegant one where aesthetically thoughtful.

In the case where the site functions as an application or where the  
link is being used in an application-like manner (pull-down menu),  
the role served in helping organize unfamiliar information no longer  
has the same value and as you point out, may actually reduce the  
usability of the page.

Forrest





On Mar 19, 2009, at 7:53 PM, Abbo Peterson wrote:

> I'm curious if there are guidelines or findings about using the  
> a:visited link style in navigation links.
>
> I know there's a benefit to using a different color for the  
> a:visited link style, to help users get feedback about which links  
> they've viewed. That seems most valuable when the page contains  
> many links, whether they're long lists or embedded within text.
>
> My question is related to the use of the visited link style in a  
> text-based left side navigation. An example might be a navigation  
> list of 20 projects. When you click a link (colored white), you  
> view a project page with its own context-specific navigation. When  
> you return to the project listing page, imagine that link is now  
> colored gray.
>
> Add the complication that each navigation link has a couple-word  
> description under it, colored gray. Once you've visited the project  
> page, now the navigation item and the description are both gray.  
> From a design standpoint, you've just made the navigation item  
> "invisible" and it doesn't stand out anymore.
>
> I'm very tempted to not use the visited link style, but I was  
> hoping to get some statistics or feedback about whether this style  
> is used much anymore.
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> Abbo
>
>
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