On Meta Mi Yodeya, every link has a dotted underline. Is this ideal?

Question

Background

It's true that modern web browsers always provide a solid underline to all links by default, and that web designers like to override this behavior. On quora.com, Edo Amin explains why: if there are too many underlines on one page, the page can appear far too busy.

The current situation

Due to the aforementioned reason, most or all Stack Exchange sites seem to override the default behavior of adding a solid underline to every link.

• On Mi Yodeya, links are colored at all; they have no underlines. This is fine.

• On Meta Stack Exchange, links are colored; they have no underlines at all. This is also fine.

My question

• On Meta Mi Yodeya, all links are colored and have dotted underlines. Is this ideal?

What to do

Please see the answer(s) below. Each answer describes a proposed solution. Upvote whichever proposed solution you like. If you don't like any of the proposed solutions, please post your own.

Answer 1

It's nonstandard to make all links have dotted underlines, and it's not the best idea. Nowadays, on the Web, a dotted underline is usually used to indicate an abbreviation; when you hover your mouse over the abbreviation, you'll see an infotip (tooltip) with its expansion. Click this link to see a page with a demo.

Therefore, to avoid confusion: Dotted underlines may be used to signify abbreviations, but should preferably not be used to signify ordinary links.

I propose that links on Meta Mi Yodeya should be changed so that they have either:

• a solid underline, or

• no underline at all, plus colors with better contrast. The new colors will ensure that visited links remain nice and visible.