>> At the auto show, a brand new car was released today. Full coverage can be found over on the Car Magazine website. <<

The link is from the words 'the Car Magazine website.' When I look at this link, I wonder, 'Am I going to get the front page of the magazine's website? Where I'll have to locate the link being referenced? Or where the link no longer appears, if it's old?'

On the other hand, linking the words "a brand new car was released today" might make me think the link goes to an AP article, and maybe I don't want to get my car news from the AP.

The safest bet seems to be to link the words "Full coverage." In other words, the noun phrase that best describes the destination of the link. I usually try to go with that, but it's not always clear, and there is no consistent practice. (Part of it is we need to rethink the linguistic property of *demonstrativity* –the principle that words can point to a displaced referent. I think.)

Except for 'click here,' which you rightly despise. But the ambiguity of some of the alternatives makes me think for a second, maybe 'click here' is used so much because it's the least ambiguous?

A comment which set me thinking was the door knob analogy … which highlights the need for designers and content creators to be aware of their audiences. It made me think of the old visual joke of a three doors. One door has a sign saying Push, the second door says Pull, and a the third says Lift.

There are certainly a lot of web savvy people out there, but there are also a vast number of people only just starting to experience the web and also a vast number who have yet to touch it. There is a visual language to the web which we learn fast, but which do need to learn … just as the difference between needing to double click on an item on your desktop, but a single click being sufficient online.

Certainly ‘click here’ is an explicit term which many of us find redundant … but there as the web is expanding so significantly there is a base level requirement for user guidance. That said, I completely agree that the onus is particularly (not exclusively) on Government (local and larger), Education and big industry websites to lead this guidance. Certain sites cater specifically for savvy people and have no need for that education aspect … and yet there are also certain sites which ‘need’ to cater for the ‘everyman’. So, basically … for each website you create/design/create content for … you should always consider your audience first and foremost.

It’s annoying that we still have to keep IE6 in mind, to fit into 800×600, to deal with disabled Javascript, &c &c … but certain content on the web does need to be everyman.

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