retain hyperlink color ?

[Prasadsm]

Hi All,

How to retain hyperlink color when clicked?

[acoder]

Set a:visited to the same colour as a:link.

[serdar]

This is not a good practice actually, please read: Change the Color of Visited Links

[David Laakso]

This is not a good practice actually, please read: Change the Color of Visited Links

Good practice is a matter of opinion. Some of us don't buy Nielsen's flaky statistics on this matter, or the resultant user confusion the method he suggests yields.

The method Acoder suggests is common practice nowadays.

As for myself, I use neither Nielsen's or the "common practice" method as there is no need to set a:visited in the first place, or at all:

a { 
color: gray;
text-decoration: none;
}
a:hover, 
a:focus,
a:active  
{
color: red;
}

[serdar]

Okay, can you tell me which part(s) you disagree in Nielsen's following arguments?

The oldest usability guideline for any type of navigational design is to help users understand where they've been, where they are, and where they can go (past, present, and future). The three are somewhat interrelated: a good grasp of past navigation helps you understand your current location, since it's the culmination of your journey. Knowing your past and present locations in turn makes it easier to decide where to go next.

Observe carefully, though, and you'll notice that users frequently move in circles. They'll visit the same page multiple times -- not because they want to, but because they don't realize that they've already been there. Users will give up when they've tried most links in a list, even though there's one link that they haven't tried; if the links don't change colors, users don't realize that there's only one unvisited link remaining.

I believe, it would be a lot easier to browse bytes.com, if visited threads in lists have a different color for instance.

Good practice is a matter of opinion. Some of us don't buy Nielsen's flaky statistics on this matter, or the resultant user confusion the method he suggests yields.

The method Acoder suggests is common practice nowadays.

As for myself, I use neither Nielsen's or the "common practice" method as there is no need to set a:visited in the first place, or at all:

[David Laakso]

In an ideal world having a different color for visited links is possibly a good idea. In the real world, a different color for visited links yields an extra layer of color and resultant confusion for some users. In other words, rather than solving a problem, it merely creates a bigger problem.

Any discipline offers more than one way to achieve goals. And it is up to site authors to chose which method best meet their users needs. In this sense, it is good that the OP has been given more than one opinion. Let's leave it to the OP to make a final decision about which way to go for his site and its users...

[serdar]

In an ideal world having a different color for visited links is possibly a good idea. In the real world, a different color for visited links yields an extra layer of color and resultant confusion for some users. In other words, rather than solving a problem, it merely creates a bigger problem.

It does not have to be a different color, it might be any other (visual / structural) way to distinguish visited links, depending on the overall site design.

Any discipline offers more than one way to achieve goals. And it is up to site authors to chose which method best meet their users needs. In this sense, it is good that the OP has been given more than one opinion. Let's leave it to the OP to make a final decision about which way to go for his site and its users...

I agree but why not just pointing out our opinions, maybe it helps anyone who is not aware of such design practices.

[David Laakso]

I agree but why not just pointing out our opinions, maybe it helps anyone who is not aware of such design practices.

Granted. And is this not what we have just done?