Linking: How clearly differentiated do they need to be?

Have we finally passed the Jakob Nielsen threshold when it comes to linking? We now see sites, such as CNN, designed for the most basic of users presenting numerous different navigation models.

For example today’s edition of CNN uses several different models, few of them explicit. The top navigation assumes users know that they are links. The graphics link to the story, as do the titles below them. It is assumed that the user knows to click on them. Underneath the titles is a description of the article followed by the words FULL STORY. Although FULL STORY has a slightly different color the link differentiation is remarkably subdued. Below the lead articles are a list of articles under the label "Latest News." As with FULL STORY the visual differentiation is limited to a slight color variation.

My only quibble with the usability aspects of this page is that the description text should also link to the article.

Nonetheless we are crossing a major threshold here. Average users are expected to assume that links exist without any visual clues. Will there still be users who go to this site and be confused as what to do next? Yes but people who are confused will soon be crossing into Crocodile Dundee territory. After all EVERYONE knows what escalators and elevators do.

Links: How clearly laid out need they be?

To what extent should links be declared and clearly visible to the end user? Certainly links need to be differentiated within text but do links have to be clearly laid out everywhere? Can we assume the user will suspect that links exist if things are not explicitly laid out?

Most sites today, even sites made for the general reader have numerous linking methods. Is this a sign that users have passed the Jakob Nielsen threshold? Many have but I’ve seen many users never click on links. They look at the page and never even think of passing their cursor over text to see if a graphic or text is a link.

We assume that EVERYONE knows that an undifferentiated column of text would be thought of as a series of links. Not so. Clearly younger users seem to have an “intuitive” grasp of the possibility of linkage. It’s not intuition it’s curiosity and they lack the older users’ fear of “doing something wrong.”