They're blue because computer scientist Ben Schneiderman made them blue using research from 1985:
" In 1985, a group of students at the University of Maryland, mentored by computer science professor Ben Shneiderman , conducted a series of experiments to study the impact of different hyperlink colors on user experience. They were eager to determine which color would be the most effective in terms of visibility and readability.
The experiments revealed interesting findings. While red highlighting made the links more noticeable, it negatively affected users' ability to read and comprehend the surrounding text. On the other hand, blue emerged as the clear winner. It was dark enough to be visible against a white background and light enough to stand out on a black background. Most importantly, it did not interfere with users' retention of the text's context."
Mozille should really do better research before posting histories like this. It's easy to overlook the impact of academic research in tech.
What did the internet look like in 1985? I was under the impression that it'd all be terminal based since the world wide web didn't exist. I'm not sure how a hyperlink would function in such an interface.
What I am fairly sure at the moment, is that they no longer are. People are doing everything possible to NOT make them blue, which something makes them very hard to find
More or less, from what I've read. Once there wasn't a technical issue, a white (or near white) background became seen as more user-friendly than a black background.
That's like reading about evolution of internet browsers. I witnessed the stuff since around 1991. I suspect the W3C and other standards bodies such as IETF might also have had some role in the matters of rendering the HTML markup. Ofcourse Mozilla was also a dominant player in shaping things up in this space.
They're blue because computer scientist Ben Schneiderman made them blue using research from 1985:
" In 1985, a group of students at the University of Maryland, mentored by computer science professor Ben Shneiderman , conducted a series of experiments to study the impact of different hyperlink colors on user experience. They were eager to determine which color would be the most effective in terms of visibility and readability.
The experiments revealed interesting findings. While red highlighting made the links more noticeable, it negatively affected users' ability to read and comprehend the surrounding text. On the other hand, blue emerged as the clear winner. It was dark enough to be visible against a white background and light enough to stand out on a black background. Most importantly, it did not interfere with users' retention of the text's context."
Mozille should really do better research before posting histories like this. It's easy to overlook the impact of academic research in tech.
Source:
Barooah, S. (2023, June 09). Why Were Hyperlinks Chosen To Be Blue? Retrieved from https://www.newspointapp.com/english/tech/why-were-hyperlink...
What did the internet look like in 1985? I was under the impression that it'd all be terminal based since the world wide web didn't exist. I'm not sure how a hyperlink would function in such an interface.
Check out HyperCard; it had hyperlinks before the Web.
They’re blue because Marc Andreesen liked blue.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DPO0A7dDvFm/?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ...)
What I am fairly sure at the moment, is that they no longer are. People are doing everything possible to NOT make them blue, which something makes them very hard to find
Blue was by far the easiest on the eye compared to Red, Green, Yellow, Cyan, Purple, on a white background, on old CRT monitors.
The more interesting question is why were backgrounds white rather than black?
To match word processors in looking like paper maybe?
More or less, from what I've read. Once there wasn't a technical issue, a white (or near white) background became seen as more user-friendly than a black background.
That's like reading about evolution of internet browsers. I witnessed the stuff since around 1991. I suspect the W3C and other standards bodies such as IETF might also have had some role in the matters of rendering the HTML markup. Ofcourse Mozilla was also a dominant player in shaping things up in this space.
As a red-green colorblind person, curse the person who decided visited links should be purple.
I actually asked Marc Andreessen this question a few years ago while making a browser.
Me: “why did you decide to make links blue?”
Marc: “I sure as hell wasn’t going to make them pink.”
Me: “what about green?”
Marc: “ew”
a weak clickbait-y post from 2021 that didn't even really answer its own question etc.
Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28315934
Quite amusing once you know the real answer.