Hypertext links can give readers additional information. But long urls can wrap or scroll across the screen, looking messy and poorly formatted. Long urls also force the reader to scroll to the right to continue reading.
Html
The most basic hypertext link encloses the navigation url within a simple html anchor tag with an href attribute. This allows the reader to see the title of the link, the hypertext, instead of having to read a long url. Embedding a hyperlink in your writing allows the reader to see only the title, Cloud Computing, as in the following example.
When the reader clicks on Cloud Computing, the new url will open in the current browser tab or window if that is the default.
Adding the target attribute to the above code tells a browser to open the url in a new tab or window. Instructing the browser to open the url in a new tab or window keeps the reader on your page. The code would be modified as,
Another useful attribute is top. Top allows the link to open outside of the current frame. This is especially helpful when creating a link inside a forum or bulletin board system (which allows html) that maintains a header advertisement when opening links. The code looks like this:
Think of the a in a href as anchor and href as hypertext reference. URL is the uniform resource locator. If the link looks odd on the page, or does not launch correctly, check the brackets and quotes. These are containers.
Email Links
Creating a mailto link causes the default mail program to launch when a reader clicks on it. You can create a mail link in much the same way as a hypertext link. The simplest form of a mailto link:
Adding a question mark allows you to insert the subject of the email as well.
BBCode
BBCode is often used on bulletin boards, or forums, in lieu of html. It is also known as phpBB. Creating links in BBCode is similar to creating links in html. But it is not the same.
The code for a basic link in BBCode would look like this example.
BBCode Mail Links
BBCode automatically recognizes email addresses as links in the same way that it recognizes all plain urls that begin http:// To specify an email address, format it as follows:
Additional learning resources can be found at W3 Schools and phpBB.
Christine Decourlande - Christine Decourlande has worked in the information technology industry since 1996. She holds a degree in Computer Information Systems ...
