Another aspect that I wonder if worth considering if how much we want to look forward to updates to the WCAG in the proposed changes to colour contrast accessibility calculations proposed in future in a new "stevenwalling added a comment to T213778: Update link colors in Vector 2022 for improved UX (and consistency).

Underlining all links by default is not a good usability choice for Wikipedia, and there is a reason why most sites with a high density of links (like Google search results pages) have moved away from underlining by default for all users. There is solid evidence that when there is a high density of links, Esanders added a comment to T213778: Update link colors in Vector 2022 for improved UX (and consistency).

In T213778#8218136, @alexhollender_WMF wrote:

@ppelberg @nayoub @Esanders: it seems that on Talk pages, in both Legacy Vector and Vector 2022, the [ reply ] and [ unsubscribe ] links/buttons are able to get :visited styling. I never noticed this until recently, when we made the :visited styling more distinct from the normal link styling. I wonder whether or not it makes sense for these links/buttons to be able to get :visited styling (my initial thought is that it doesn't make sense)? What do you all think? And if you agree that it doesn't make sense, should we prioritize changing this? I believe this will no longer be an issue with the updated Talk pages, since they use buttons instead of links for Reply and Unsubscribe, though I don't know how soon that will be rolled out everywhere.

Thanks, filed as T319019

In T213778#8274592, @Volker_E wrote:

We're supporting to always underline links in user preferences underneath “Appearance” as MediaWiki feature.

Has underlining been considered? The new colours still pose two accessibility problems

1. It's too light for about 10% of people. Many people who indicate it's too light indicate an accessibility issue (difficult to read) rather than aesthetics.
2. For people that are colour blind, the contrast between visited links and unvisited links may not be clear (see for instance Iritscen's feedback).

Change 622763 abandoned by VolkerE:

[mediawiki/skins/Vector@master] [modern][styles] Use default Design Style Guide link color choice

Reason:

Superseded by I8a309eedd70b9a82f

Volker_E added a comment to T213778: Update link colors in Vector 2022 for improved UX (and consistency).

In T213778#8210178, @Femkemilene wrote:

I prefer consistency as well. I think the visited link colour on the watchlist/main menu/contributions wouldn't be that annoying if the purple colour is closer to meeting the WGAC AAA standard (or even meets it, but there is only one colour that meets both accessibiilty requirements).
I suggested the two colours that fit with the criteria ((#3344dd for blue, and #804180 for purple)). If the blue is a given, #6550A5 may be a prettier option for the purple. It almost meets the AAA standard on a white background and comfortably meets the AA standard on a lightgrey background, which is common across the site. Happy to test if it still poses me trouble if somebody could explain how.

I prefer consistency as well. I think the visited link colour on the watchlist/main menu/contributions wouldn't be that annoying if the purple colour is closer to meeting the WGAC AAA standard (or even meets it, but there is only one colour that meets both accessibiilty requirements).
I suggested the two colours that fit with the criteria ((#3344dd for blue, and #804180 for purple)). If the blue is a given, #6550A5 may be a prettier option for the purple. It almost meets the AAA standard on a white background and comfortably meets the AA standard on a lightgrey background, which is common across the site. Happy to test if it still poses me trouble if somebody could explain how.

In T213778#8209079, @alexhollender_WMF wrote:

• @stevenwalling has pointed out that all links on Watchlist and Contributions pages have visited link styling (because any page that appears there is a page you've visited). This raises the question of whether it makes sense to use visited link styling on these pages or not. There might be other places, such as the User menu and/or Main menu, where visited link styling is more distracting than helpful as well. (link to discussion)

@Jdlrobson @ovasileva @Volker_E additional questions related to link styling:

• I just noticed that the visited link styling is also getting applied to the [ reply ] buttons on Talk pages. As far as I can tell this was previously happening (in Legacy Vector) but was less noticeable because the visited link styling was so similar to the normal link styling. It might not matter much for [ reply ] because the Editing team is switching that to a button, however it makes me wonder if there are other link/buttons out there that are also getting visited link styling, but shouldn't be? This is more or less the same issue we're addressing in T316574: [regression] [Visual refinements] Toolbar tabs should not get :visited styling
• @stevenwalling has pointed out that all many links on Watchlist and Contributions pages have visited link styling (because any page that appears there is a page you've visited). This raises the question of whether it makes sense to use visited link styling on these pages or not. There might be other places, such as the User menu and/or Main menu, where visited link styling is more distracting than helpful as well. (link to discussion)

Change 826250 merged by jenkins-bot:

[mediawiki/skins/Vector@wmf/1.39.0-wmf.26] Vector legacy no longer imports variables from Vector modern

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