Web Page Guide

"Connect.  Only connect."

- E.M. Forster

The Links

Now we get to the other nifty part of web page: hypertext.  Hypertext in general is any text meant to be read in a non-linear fashion, but mostly it's used to describe electronic text broken up into chunks and interconnected by various links.

Links can be divided into three major types: internal, external, and mailto.  Internal links are links to specific points within the same page.  External links are links to other web pages, either on the same site or elsewhere.  Mailto links open up an email message to the indicated address.

Internal Links

In order to link to a specific point in the page, you have to set up something to link to.  So before we get to internal links, we have to cover something called "bookmarks."

Bookmarks, also called target and anchors, create...well, a target in a web page.  This target can be linked to either from another spot in the page, or from another web page.  Bookmarks work best of there's more than one screen worth of stuff, so we'll need to fill up your page a bit.  You can do this by typing a series of letters down the side (hit letter, enter, letter, enter, etc), or by copying and pasting some random text into it.

Once you've done that, go to the very bottom of your page.  Make sure your cursor is wherever you want the bookmark to be.  

Go to "Insert" and select "Bookmark."  You will be asked to name your bookmark.  A note on this: no one but you needs to be able to recognize or figure out this name, but you should choose a name whose meaning will be clear to you, especially if you're going to have multiple bookmarks in a page.  The first time I did this, I just numbered them, and then had to constantly re-check to make sure I was linking to the correct bookmark.  Not fun.

Now that you have a bookmark, go back to the top of your page.  You'll want to type in a word and select it, or select one that you already have.

As with pictures, there are two ways you can insert a link.  One is to go to "Insert" and select "Hyperlink."  The short way is to click on the little globe with the link on it on the toolbar.  Either one will call up the link dialogue box.

Now, there's a lot going on here, but for now we are only going to look at the very bottom where it says "Bookmark."  Click on the down arrow.  If you inserted your bookmark correctly, it should be there.  Select it, and click on "Okay."

And you should have linkage.

What's that?  It's not working?  Well, no.  One of the quirks of almost all web authoring tools is that links don't work in them.  So you'll need to test your link in one of two places.  You can do so in the "Preview" window, but your page may look a little funny.  My preferred method is to open an Explorer or Netscape window and open the file from there. 

External Links

External links are links to other web pages, either on the same site or elsewhere.  We're going to do the "elsewhere" first, because it's harder and less complicated.  No, really.

In its simplest steps, linking to an external web page is done by:

1. Selecting the word from which you wish to link.  You can also select an image, although unless the image is a button that actually contains a word indicating what you're linking to, I don't recommend it.
2. Clicking on the little globe with the link.
3. Entering the address of the page you wish to link to in the "URL" box.
4. Clicking on "Okay."

See, nice and simple.

Except when it's not.

The first thing to remember is that computers, as a rule, do exactly what you tell them to do.  That means that if you type one wrong letter, one wrong slash, one comma instead of a period in the address, your link will not work.  My favorite trick for avoiding this is to open a browser window on the page I want to link to, then copy-and-paste the address into the URL box.  Front Page does have a feature that does this for you, but it crashes the program rather often.

There's also the question of how to link among various pages on your own site, say from you syllabus page to your assignments.  Here's where the easier and more complicated part comes in.

If your pages are going to be in the same directory on your site, whether it's your "main" directory or a subfolder you create (I like to create different directories for each class), you only need to enter the file name in the URL box.  You need to be sure to:

1. Remove the "http://" in the box before typing in the file name.
2. Type the whole file name, including the .htm or .html extension. 

Now, this is a wonderful shortcut, but you must be sure that the pages are saved in the same folder both on your computer and on the web space.  Otherwise, Front Page will helpfully adjust for the different directories, thus rendering the whole thing higgledy-piggledy.

So suppose you want to link to a particular spot on a website?  Well, that can be done if that spot has a bookmark.  For other people's web pages, you just kind of have to hope.  As before, the best way to link to that spot is to copy and paste the URL into the URL box.  It will look something like this: 

http://virtual.parkland.edu/rbusker/eng102290/rhetoric.htm#purpose

(See how that link takes you right to the spot?)

For your own web site, you can create the bookmark yourself.  First, on the page that you want to link to, create a bookmark at the desired spot.

Next, go to the page you want to link from.  Highlight to word you want as your link, and in the URL box:

1. Remove the "http://" in the box before typing in the file name.
2. Type the whole file name, including the .htm or .html extension. 
3. Right after the .htm or .html, with no spaces, type #bookmarkname.  For example, for the target above, I would type rhetoric.htm#purpose 

Special note: Have you noticed how some of the links on this site have caused a whole new browser window to pop up instead of just taking the current browser window to the page?   Cool, huh?  It used to require actual html skills to do that.  Front Page, however, kindly does it for you.

To use this function, when entering your link, look for "Target Frame" on the link dialogue box.  Click on the little pencil.  Select "New Window."  Click on "Okay."  Making sure your link address is properly entered in the URL box, click on "Okay" again.

Design Note:  Use this function only when there's a reason for the reader to stay on the linking page while also viewing the new one.  I've been to pages where every link is done this way and frankly, it's annoying.  It creates the impression that you think your page is just so special that no one could possibly want to leave it.  And we all know that only my pages are that special.

Mailto Links

A mailto link opens up an email message already addressed to the linked address.  At least that's what it's supposed to do.  In reality, it only does this if the browser has a designated email program that is properly configured to an account. It won't work if the person wants to mail from Yahoo! mail or some other web-based email program.  Sometimes it will make the browser open up three dozen blank windows.  Use with this in mind.

To create a mailto, type then select the words and click on the link button.  In the URL box, delete the "http://" and type mailto:youraddress@yourdomain.net. Note the lack of spaces anywhere.  Click on "Okay."

Design note: It's generally a good idea to have the text of the link be your address, although you can insert spaces if you're worried about it being picked up by spammers (alas, this does happen).  Remember that not everyone who uses your page will be able to use the mailto link (this is especially true if you use your page in a Parkland classroom).  

Also, if you type an email address in Front Page, the program very helpfully inserts a mailto link for you.  If you don't want one, just click on the "undo" arrow until it goes away.

Class Web page Notes

• Internal links, in case you're wondering, can be very useful for documents with large amounts of text, especially if you want your readers to be able to find specific sections with ease.  I find them especially useful for on-line syllabi.  They are also useful for longer assignments that have specific sections students might need to revisit.
• External links within your own directory allows you to break information up in the design formats I discussed earlier.  This is really important if you're going to have more than the most basic of information on your page.
• Other external links have a thousand and one uses, from linking to reference sites to supplementing course readings.  There is so much amazing material available on the web, from novels to scholarship to everything else.  And while the law is still being hammered out, at present, there is no copyright involved in linking to something.

Moving Along: Tables: Your Friend and Mine