[pasiaj]

I've tried to abide by this rule for most of the 17 years I've done web development. There is, however, an exception to this rule: My mom.

My mom (and my dad) belong to the group that - even after a decade of daily computer use - frequently fail to recognize distinct interface elements. They seem to have no general concept of the look / purpose of a link, a window, a modal box etc. Colors and chrome are meaningless to them, but text that says 'click here' is the best of UX there can be.

I've noticed that many web publications that cater to non-savvy users tend to stick with the 'click here'-pattern.

[larrys]

"My mom (and my dad) belong to the group"

As a matter of fact I spoke to your parents the other day. They asked me if there was a space between the first and second word of my domain name. They also didn't understand that you can't just send an email to domainname you need an address at domainname. They didn't know what a browser bar was they just type my domain name in google and go from there.

In all seriousness you raise an excellent point.

It would be interesting if there was some data and metrics to backup the web saavyness of various audience types and how a particular link style impacts those groups. What works with one group might be a detriment in another group.

[ams6110]

I think in general, if you are targeting the "general public" or an audience you know is probably not tech-savvy, you're better off with links that say "Click Here" or actually using buttons.

[arkitaip]

I came here just to say this. UI is a learned behavior and if you're a beginner any explicit sign or help indicating what to do next is very much welcomed.

[jamesbritt]

... and if you're a beginner any explicit sign or help indicating what to do next is very much welcomed.

What's interesting is the the OP's parents have been using computers for a decade. They're not beginners per se, but they seem (I'm guessing) to have internalized some UI artifacts from the Web of 10 years ago.

If this is the case then the problem is not helping people who are beginners, but helping people who have possibly stopped reconsidering the UI they are actually seeing and who instead are locked into habits they built up earlier.

[ams6110]

Neither of my parents (both college-educated with multiple graduate degrees) ever really "got" GUIs or the web. They learned computing with punch cards and later with teletypes and vt100 terminals. They were fine with DOS when PCs came on the scene, but just never really made the leap to graphical interfaces and the web. My dad in particular thought it was all a bunch of silliness and it actually contributed to his loss of interest in computing (he used to program Z80s in assembly to control laboratory equipment. He could also progam TI 980 minicomputers by toggling machine code in on the front panel. But he never saw the point of the web.

[jiggy2011]

I wonder how your parents would fare if you were to give them a tablet? "Click here? how do I plug the mouse in?"

[ams6110]

Sigh. Reminds me of my (late) mother, who would accidentally click on the "Subject" header in Outlook (causing messages to be sorted by subject) and have no idea what happened or why messages were no longer sorted in the order they arrived.

She would call me saying her email "looks all different" for "no reason"

[Evbn]

The most fun was the Win98 start menu task bar that moves around the page at the flick of your finger when you misclick

[bostonvaulter2]

Sounds like a good AB test to run.