So I wonder if any usability
studies have been done in that area?
Who knows, but people who watch TV, listen to radio, read magazines are familiar with calls to action (CTA's). "Enter Now!", "Subscribe!", "Buy Now!" These are all too familiar and the phrase we turn on -- not the related noun or object phrase that follows it.
In the case of references to other documents I would say that it is definitely a usability issue to not use the noun or object phrases but, in my unsubstantiated opinion, if it is a path or an action that you want people to take the CTA is by far the best approach. And my opinion is based on the fact that CTA's work so well in the real world. Marketers have known this for years -- and guess what -- websites (for business) are marketing.
You have to tell people what to do not what their destination is. The other issue is when you use a CTA directly preceding a linked object phrase is that when people have reached the CTA threshold and have decided to "Buy Now!" they may not continue to read what comes after it which is where you may want to place the contextual linked noun or object phrase with as much interest because they were already told what action to take so they want to take it then not after.
I think that a combination of contextual nouns or object phrases and CTA's should be used in business sites. The fine exception is that navigational structures should be only nouns or object phrases and never CTA's as CTA's are not a destination but an action. There is tonnes of data to support it plus the w3c recommends it as well.
Thoughts? All the best, Jay -- Jay Gilmore Developer / Consultant SmashingRed Web & Marketing P] 902.529.0651 E] [EMAIL PROTECTED] U] http://www.smashingred.com B] http://www.smashingred.com/blog ****************************************************** The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/ See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm for some hints on posting to the list & getting help ******************************************************
