How to Stop Underlining Links

Browsers are designed to show you where the links on a page by displaying them in a special color and by underlining them. The special color is nice but, in most cases, underlining the links is not necessary. All it does is make the pages cluttered and difficult to read.

It is possible for a Web page designer to use a system called Cascading Style Sheets (or CSS) to control the appearance of links. For example, on this Web site almost all the links are green or white, and none of the links are underlined.

Although many Web designers choose to control the colors of the links, they often do not turn off the underlining. However, if you find underlining irritating (as I do), you can turn it off for yourself.

Here is how to tell your browser to stop underlining links. Try it and see what you think.

Internet Explorer

Start Internet Explorer.
Pull down the Tools menu and select Internet Options.
Click on the Advanced tab.
Look under the Browsing section for Underline Links.
Click on Never or Hover. (If you choose Hover, a link will be underlined only when you point to it.)
To finish, click on the OK button.

If the current page does not change, you may need to reload it.

Firefox

Start Firefox.
Pull down the Tools menu and select Options.
Click on the Colors button. A new window will appear.
Click on Underline links so there is no checkmark next to it.
Click on the OK button to close the Colors window.
To finish, click on the OK button to close the Options window.

If the current page does not change, you may need to reload it.