Blue hypertext is a good design decision : no perceptual disadvantage in reading and successful highlighting of relevant information

  • Background: Highlighted text in the Internet (i.e., hypertext) is predominantly blue and underlined. The perceptibility of these hypertext characteristics was heavily questioned by applied research and empirical tests resulted in inconclusive results. The ability to recognize blue text in foveal and parafoveal vision was identified as potentially constrained by the low number of foveally centered blue light sensitive retinal cells. The present study investigates if foveal and parafoveal perceptibility of blue hypertext is reduced in comparison to normal black text during reading. Methods: A silent-sentence reading study with simultaneous eye movement recordings and the invisible boundary paradigm, which allows the investigation of foveal and parafoveal perceptibility, separately, was realized (comparing fixation times after degraded vs. un-degraded parafoveal previews). Target words in sentences were presented in either black or blue and either underlined or normal. Results: No effect of color and underlining, but a preview benefit could be detected for first pass reading measures. Fixation time measures that included re-reading, e.g., total viewing times, showed, in addition to a preview effect, a reduced fixation time for not highlighted (black not underlined) in contrast to highlighted target words (either blue or underlined or both). Discussion: The present pattern reflects no detectable perceptual disadvantage of hyperlink stimuli but increased attraction of attention resources, after first pass reading, through highlighting. Blue or underlined text allows readers to easily perceive hypertext and at the same time readers re-visited highlighted words longer. On the basis of the present evidence, blue hypertext can be safely recommended to web designers for future use.

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Author:Benjamin GaglORCiD
URN:urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-442207
DOI:https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.2467
ISSN:2167-8359
Pubmed Id:https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27688970
Parent Title (English):PeerJ
Publisher:PeerJ, Inc.
Place of publication:London [u. a.]
Contributor(s):Steven Thompson
Document Type:Article
Language:English
Date of Publication (online):2017/06/19
Year of first Publication:2016
Publishing Institution:Universitätsbibliothek Johann Christian Senckenberg
Release Date:2017/06/19
Tag:Eye movements; Hypertext; Invisible boundary paradigm; Reading
Volume:4
Issue:e2467
Page Number:11
First Page:1
Last Page:11
Note:
Distributed under Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0
HeBIS-PPN:425035549
Institutes:Psychologie und Sportwissenschaften / Psychologie
Dewey Decimal Classification:6 Technik, Medizin, angewandte Wissenschaften / 61 Medizin und Gesundheit / 610 Medizin und Gesundheit
Sammlungen:Universitätspublikationen
Open-Access-Publikationsfonds:Psychologie und Sportwissenschaften
Licence (German):License LogoCreative Commons - Namensnennung 4.0