create external link icon for websites

[kaigou]

Title:
create external link icon for websites

Area:
sidebars, design

Summary:
On many styles, there's nothing to indicate that the text in the sidebar is actually the website's link. Could we add an icon to those links?

Description:
The icon would indicate that a) the text really is a link even if the style doesn't reflect this, and b) that the link goes offsite. Examples of standard use:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/64/Icon_External_Link.png
http://sils.unc.edu/redesign/IA/external_link_icon.gif

If it's set as default in the global CSS, it might be easier (maybe?) to make it apply without adjusting every style. Also, I don't know if it could be done as default icon (like the LJ/DW icons) in content text, but it'd at least be handy to have it on sidebars to indicate a user's website and which links in the sidebar are external.

ETA: Alternate might be to make it optional for users, to add it to their selected style?

Poll #1550 create external link icon for websites

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 31

View Respondents

This suggestion:

View Answers

Should be implemented as-is.
5 (16.1%)

Should be implemented with changes. (please comment)
1 (3.2%)

Shouldn't be implemented.
19 (61.3%)

(I have no opinion)
6 (19.4%)

(Other: please comment)
0 (0.0%)

Comments

[turlough]

I'm against this because I think it would just clutter up the sidebar without really adding any new functionality. Most people already know that most stuff in the sidebar are links.

[kaigou]

I've already gotten two comments about the style I did, that it's not obvious the line under the name is a link, because the style doesn't use text:underline except on hover. When I asked around, the response was the same, that it looked like the website line was regular text.

On top of that, I find icons in text/content areas to be useful for the same reasons we have the little gray person for DW-user, and the spiral for DW-comms (though I'm still trying to figure out how to get the LJ-icon to show up, heh) -- even when someone gives a name for the link and you can't see the address without hovering, the external-link icon tells you whether you're going off-site. For some users, that's important and/or useful to know; the sidebar is just one place where people are likely to have a bunch of links at once.

[matgb]

A style that doesn't show links as links either by underlining or colour changing at all is a bad design that breaks basic usability standards. Links should be clearly identifiable as such else users simply won't find them at all.

If you want to create a style that uses icons instead of text colour or underlines, go ahead, but I don't see the overall benefit--it'll simply encourage low usability layout designs.

[kaigou]

The issue here isn't whether links are indicated but whether it's possible to indicate external links. I agree about usability standards, but this is in addition to, not in place of, because this icon wouldn't be used for a link if the domain is dreamwidth.org.

[matgb]

Problem with that is to some people, including a huge chunk of my readers, links to *.dreamwidth.org count as external links if they're coming from matgb.dreamwidth.org

I use DW as my blog platform--half my readers are DW/LJ users, the other half come from all over the place, my blog is where they are, anything that takes them away from my blog is external. Sure, to many DW users, they're on their site and they're not planning to leave it, but that's not necessarily normal behaviour.

If you're going to have an option to label external links, if I were to use it, I'd want it to label anything not part of my bit of DW as external, as to me, it is.

[kaigou]

Per edits to original post: in which case, you'd be one of the people who'd open the style wizard and turn the option off. I, on the other hand, would like to be able to turn it on.

The question, then, is whether it's possible* to set this as a global option.

* I'm assuming the code to add such wouldn't require massive LOE. Which could be a bad assumption on my part, but hey, only making suggestions, here.

[ninetydegrees]

Re: your edit

Yes, this.

[cesy]

I'm against this, as I don't want extra icon clutter. If the lack of underlines is a problem with a site style, then that needs to be changed; if it's your custom style, then you can change it in your custom style.

If you want icons you can also add them in your custom style.

[instantramen]

The main difference I see between the sites in your original examples and Dreamwidth is that those sites deal primarily with providing information to the user in such a way that it might be important to know when a link goes off-site, whereas here it generally doesn't matter whether the link is external or internal.

[triadruid]

I agree; having the option is good, but I wouldn't want to change the default.