By changing the color of visited links, users are provided with a visual clue as to where they've already been on the website. If sites use the same color for visited and unvisited links, this will cause misinterpretation for the users or overlook the difference between two similar links as they are unsure about which one they have already visited. Being able to see if a link leads to a page that the user has already visited can be very valuable for inexperienced users and users with certain types of cognitive disabilities.

Guidelines:

• Underline the hyperlink
• Unvisited links should be blue and visited links should be differentiated using alternate color
• Use consistent colors for all pages
• It is not necessary to distinguish between visited and unvisited links in menus
• Clickable links on mouse hover should show hand pointer
• The two colors used for visited and unvisited links should be different
• The color used for unvisited links should be more prominent and brighter than that used for visited links

Example:

Link Text - Unvisited
Link Text - Visited

Validation Techniques:

• Click on any link in a page and observe the color change
• Observe the unvisited links and check for the color difference between the visited and unvisited links