Linking Well
Dr. Leavitt replies to yesterday's diatribe on the notion that "strong webloggers no longer link".
Just how strong should a web blogger be if a web blogger could be strong? Spending hours on Technorati has brought me no closer to the answer. Is Boing Boing the Charles Atlas of web blogging?
But he asks a good question: If you offer a link, then some readers will follow it and miss the rest of your argument.
If you have already clicked on my link to Bernstein, you are no longer reading this, your attention having already wandered. If that happened, one (Goldstein, to be exact) might believe that I am a "weak web blogger."
How do we solve this problem of the premature exit?
- Link later. We're often tempted to annotate the first occurrence of a name or term, to push links to the top. Sometimes, it may be better to link later. A good example is the convention of "further reading" links that follow an essay or weblog post.
- Link more quietly. Some links advertise themselves, while others fade into the background. Choose link anchors with care. Short links to a name or a noun, for example, suggest annotation -- things the reader can pursue later. Long links to vivid and contentious phrases suggest argumentation -- background you might need to follow the coming argument.
- Shift the context. Links that open a new window or tab are less drastic than those that replace what you're currently reading. Stretchtext, if it's short, is even gentler. Rollovers and popups can display linked material in context, or can preview the destination.
- Link types. Providing iconic or textual clues to identify the link's notional role or purpose can guide readers to use them more effectively.