"Only Geeks Understand Link Icons"

"Only Geeks Understand Link Icons":

Peter Steen Høgenhaug, suggesting we consider using something other than the ubiquitous link icon for inserting hypertext links in an application:

All in all, only 35.29% of the test participants understood the chain icon, and only 25% understood the globe icon. While we didn't set a minimum for success, clearly, 25% is not good when it comes to usability. When being interviewed one of our participants asked:

'Why not just write WWW? Everyone understands that!'