No more underlined links

  • libby9

    (@libby9)


    2 days, 15 hours ago

    Since the recent WordPress update, links are no longer visibly underlined in the post editor, and I genuinely want to know why WordPress is choosing to make the user experience actively worse and basic publishing tasks unnecessarily difficult.

    I work in digital publishing. Being able to LOOK at an article and immediately see which text contains a link is basic functionality. Now I have to click through individual words and phrases just to find out where links have been inserted. How is that remotely an improvement?

    Who decided that users no longer need to see where they have placed links while editing? What problem was this change supposed to solve? Because from a user perspective, it has taken something that was clear, obvious and functional and made it frustrating and unnecessarily time-consuming.

    This is not just a cosmetic preference. When you are editing and publishing articles containing multiple links, you NEED to be able to identify them. Removing their visual distinction makes it easier to miss links, duplicate them or link the wrong text.

    And telling users to use custom CSS, modify their theme or involve a developer is not an acceptable solution to functionality that worked perfectly well before an update removed it.

    Please explain why this change was made and restore visible links in the editor. At the absolute minimum, give users a simple setting to turn the underlines back on. Stop removing useful functionality and calling it an improvement to the editing experience.

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)
  • Moderator threadi

    (@threadi)

    2 days, 7 hours ago

    Underlined links are primarily a matter of the theme you’re using. It still works fine for me. Of course, it depends on how your project is set up. Which editor do you use? Which theme? Which links are affected exactly? Just the ones in the content area, or also in the header and footer? A link to the page might also help.

    harryjosh

    (@harryjosh)

    2 days, 2 hours ago

    I completely understand your frustration — as someone who also edits long articles with many links, being able to scan the page and spot links visually is a real part of the workflow, not just a cosmetic preference. In the meantime, there is a workaround you might find acceptable: the editor highlights links when you hover over or click into them, and you can also use the List View panel to navigate between links quickly. That said, your point stands — accessibility-wise, distinguishable links matter, and I would encourage you to leave feedback through the Gutenberg GitHub repository where editor UI decisions are discussed. This is exactly the kind of user feedback that can influence design changes in future releases.

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)

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