Blog : Do Not Let Your Links Lose Color

Continuing with the in-depth analysis that something as important as the links of an online virtual store requires, we will now analyze its color, a matter for which improvisation should not be used. Usually, Internet browsers use two different colors to display links: blue, when the link has not yet been visited, and purple when that link has already been clicked on occasion.

Our website should not be an exception: To improve its usability, our online virtual store must be able to retain this color code since it will greatly facilitate the use of the page by our customers. In this sense, there should be no room for experiments, since when non-standardized colors are used for links, users lose the ability to clearly see which parts of the web they have visited and which remain unexplored.

Common mistakes: There are a significant number of web pages that use a single color to signal links, both those that have been visited and those that have not. According to specialists, this fact can confuse the user when it comes to knowing whether or not they have already visited a certain part of a portal.

These confusions will result in our clients losing their precious time, which may lead them to give up on their intention to purchase a product or service in our online virtual store. In this sense, the use of colors of a similar range will produce similar consequences, so we must be clear about two aspects:

The color of a visited link will always be different from that not visited. If possible, we will use the blue color for the visited link and the purple color for the not visited link.

Problems for our clients: Although it may seem exaggerated, erring with the color of our links will make it much more difficult for our customers to understand the structure and location of the pages that are part of our online virtual store.

In this sense, some will select the same option over and over again without realizing that they have already visited it; Others will leave our website prematurely, thinking that they have already explored all the options; and the rest will not be able to find the section that they have read and whose information was useful to them, plain and simple because the link is not differentiated in the list.