Unit 5. Establishing Web Links (I)

We are now going to see what web links are, what are they used for and how to create them, as they are an essential element of any web site.

Introduction

A hyperlink or link, is just a connection that directs you to an other Page or file when you click on it.

You can assign a link to a text, to an image, or to part of an image.

Types of links

There are different types of access paths when you are defining a link.

Absolute reference :

Drives you to an location external from the site where the file is. The location is in the internet, for example: "http://www.teacherclick.com".

Relative reference to the site:

Drives you to a file located inside the site of the actual file location.

Relative reference to the file:

It drives you to a file located inside the same site of the actual document, but starting in the directory in which it's the actual file.

Anchors:

It drives you to an anchor inside a file, which can be the current one or any other. To do this, the link might be "name_of_file.extension#name_of_anchor".The anchor is defined inside a file through Insert menu, and then the Named Anchor option.

Creating links

The easiest way to create a link is through the properties inspector. To do this you have to select the text or the object which is going to be used as a link, and then you must establish the Link in the inspector.

For example, here there is a link to www.elpais.es, which is anabsolute reference, so, it will contain HTTP://

Another way to create a link is through the Insert menu, and then the Hyperlink option.

It's possible to create empty links, they can be useful when you use behaviours, etc. You just need to write in Link only the # symbol..

Link Target

The link target determines in which window the linked Page it's going to open, it can change depending on the frames of the actual file.

It can be specified in properties inspector through Target, or through the Insert menu ,and then the Hyperlink option .

_blank:

It opens the linked file in a new browser's window.

_parent:

It opens the linked file in the frame window that contains the link or the set of parent frames.

_self:

It's the predetermined option. It opens the linked file in the same frame or window as the link.

_top:

It opens the linked document in the whole browser's window.

Don't worry if you don't completely understand the functions of each of those destiny options, we'll check them again in the Frames theme.

To practice you can perform the Step by step exercise to Create a web link .

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