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For Google to eliminate underlines as well is simply the final nail in the coffin for this old web standard. But that step is necessary in an era when we navigate the web by other means than a mouse.

the pesky underlines still pop up if you mouse over them.)

The most memorable visualizations, by far, contained elements that fell under the category of "human recognizable objects." These were images with photographs, body parts, icons--things that people regularly encounter in their daily lives. "Human recognizable objects will instantly make it more memorable," says Borkin. All but one of the 12 most memorable images in the study had a recognizable component.

Color was key; visualizations with more than six colors were much more memorable than those with only a few colors or a black-and-white gradient. Visual density--what some of us might call "clutter"--wasn't a bad thing either. In fact, images with a lot going on were significantly more memorable than minimalist approaches. Roundness was another hallmark of memorability (after all, our brains do love curves).

Then again, the researchers emphasize that this study only scratches the surface of what makes a visualization effective. Borkin and the others didn't study how well people retained the information in the images, just that they retained the image itself. An image that's memorable without being comprehensible may not be worth much. Borkin has already moved on to a similar study of visual comprehension, and she suspects in this case that "chart junk" and extraneous design elements will have a negative impact.

Only 34% of websites use a serif typeface for body copy.

Two thirds of the websites we surveyed used sans-serif fonts for body copy.

the most popular font sizes ranged from 18 to 29 pixels, with 18 to 20 pixels and 24 to 26 pixels being the most popular choices.

people will go to great lengths to avoid reading.

even the best content can’t undo the effects of poor design and graphics that essentially say “don’t read me.” Good design isn’t everything, and it certainly doesn’t negate the need to create strong wording. However, bad design can negate even the strongest wording in its entirety