Look and feel · Hierarchy
People can't tell what they can click
If buttons and links look like plain text, people miss them. Some click things that do nothing and give up.
- Applies to
- every page
- Typical severity
- medium
- Effect on conversions
- medium
- Effort to fix
- Quick to fix
What to look for
Key actions styled as plain text, very faint outlines or ghost buttons; links indistinguishable from body text; or decorative elements that look like buttons.
What good looks like
Buttons look like buttons and links are visibly distinct from text.
How to fix it
Give buttons a solid colour or a clear outline, and make links in your text a different colour and underlined.
Based on
- Established usability heuristics #4 (consistency and standards)
Related checks
Look and feelNothing on your page stands out firstWhen everything looks equally important, people don't know where to look. They skim, miss your main point and may leave.Look and feelYour main button is easy to missIf people can't spot the button to get in touch or buy, fewer of them will. Some will leave without doing anything.Look and feelYour page feels squashed togetherCrowded pages look cheap and are harder to read, especially on a phone. People struggle to spot what they need.
Does your site pass this check?
AgoraScan checks this and the rest of the checklist on your pages, with screenshots of anything it finds. The first scan is free.