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Personally it constrains my eyes if the link is in the middle of article. It simply takes an extra effort. However, its not just me. You can find online a bunch

Personally it constrains my eyes if the link is in the middle of article. It simply takes an extra effort. However, its not just me. You can find online a bunch of research on the topic. ps. no need to downvote, its just an advice :)

zztop44 3y ago
Can you share the research on this topic? If I understand you correctly what you’re saying is very different to my experience (and how popular sites like Wikipedia etc work). So I’d like to read the research. I’ve tried to google a bit but can’t find anything yet and not 100% sure what keywords to search for.
- diabolique_2 3y ago
  sorry it was weeks ago, And by spending 5 minutes googling i couldn't find it. However I can summarise the point of that article. It basically says since links stand out, first thing you read from paragraph are links. If the link is on the beginning of the article, you naturally read the link and continue reading it. If it's on the end of the article, you'll first read the link and after it go back to begging of reading paragraph. If it's in the middle, you'll wonder what the paragraph is about, so your eyes will naturally read the first few words of paragraph and after it a couple of end words of paragraph. Before continuing to read article. The author that wrote that article was obviously an expert in UI/UX and has spent a great deal thinking/doing articles. An example that you've mentioned, Wikipedia, it doesn't have such huge contrast between link and text, and I'm expecting it to be full of links.I suppose thats the reason why but I don't do the described behaviour on it. However I often find myself doing the described behaviour when reading blogs, making me ignore/stop reading the blogs that do a lot of linking.
  - zztop44 3y ago
    Thanks for taking the time to summarize it. Sounds like interesting stuff
  - Karellen 3y ago
    I'm still having trouble picturing how to actually implement the suggestion. Could you, as an example, rewrite the first paragraph of the fine article, so that the 3 links are either at the start or end of the paragraph (as suggested), in a way that makes the contents of the paragraph and/or the link context clearer?
gnulinux 3y ago
> ps. no need to downvote, its just an advice :) Looks like you're misunderstanding. There is a need to downvote because you're projecting your opinion (that some people strongly disagree with) as "advice", as if it's a fact. It's correct to downvote imho, which is what I did. Similar to Wikipedia, it's ok, if not preferable, to link words in the middle of a sentence. I prefer it, some people I know prefer it. It's ok to give advice, but when the jury is still out, it's crucial to be humble.
- diabolique_2 3y ago
  my bad, i thought it was common knowledge but it appears it is not.

zztop44 3y ago

Can you share the research on this topic? If I understand you correctly what you’re saying is very different to my experience (and how popular sites like Wikipedia etc work). So I’d like to read the research. I’ve tried to google a bit but can’t find anything yet and not 100% sure what keywords to search for.

diabolique_2 3y ago
sorry it was weeks ago, And by spending 5 minutes googling i couldn't find it. However I can summarise the point of that article. It basically says since links stand out, first thing you read from paragraph are links. If the link is on the beginning of the article, you naturally read the link and continue reading it. If it's on the end of the article, you'll first read the link and after it go back to begging of reading paragraph. If it's in the middle, you'll wonder what the paragraph is about, so your eyes will naturally read the first few words of paragraph and after it a couple of end words of paragraph. Before continuing to read article. The author that wrote that article was obviously an expert in UI/UX and has spent a great deal thinking/doing articles. An example that you've mentioned, Wikipedia, it doesn't have such huge contrast between link and text, and I'm expecting it to be full of links.I suppose thats the reason why but I don't do the described behaviour on it. However I often find myself doing the described behaviour when reading blogs, making me ignore/stop reading the blogs that do a lot of linking.
- zztop44 3y ago
  Thanks for taking the time to summarize it. Sounds like interesting stuff
- Karellen 3y ago
  I'm still having trouble picturing how to actually implement the suggestion. Could you, as an example, rewrite the first paragraph of the fine article, so that the 3 links are either at the start or end of the paragraph (as suggested), in a way that makes the contents of the paragraph and/or the link context clearer?

gnulinux 3y ago

> ps. no need to downvote, its just an advice :) Looks like you're misunderstanding. There is a need to downvote because you're projecting your opinion (that some people strongly disagree with) as "advice", as if it's a fact. It's correct to downvote imho, which is what I did. Similar to Wikipedia, it's ok, if not preferable, to link words in the middle of a sentence. I prefer it, some people I know prefer it. It's ok to give advice, but when the jury is still out, it's crucial to be humble.

diabolique_2 3y ago
my bad, i thought it was common knowledge but it appears it is not.