Composer: Links

Every link consists of two parts: link text (what the user sees and clicks on) and the link address (the long webpage address, starting with http). You should always choose good, clear link text for your user to click on, and you should NEVER show the http web address on your page! You can show the domain name if you want - Snopes.com, for example - but including the http part of the address is not a good idea; a link like http://snopes.com is ugly and forces the reader to filter out the computer http code from the actual website name. So, make sure that "http" never appears on your webpages!

There are two kinds of links you can create: an EXTERNAL link to a webpage on the Internet, and an INTERNAL link to a webpage inside your own website.

Here is how to create an EXTERNAL link:

STEP ONE: Get the webpage address. To link to an external webpage, first make sure you are looking at the webpage you want to link to in a browser window, so that you can see the http address clearly displayed there in the browser address bar.

STEP TWO: Link text. In the Composer window, type the link text that the user will see and click on. Just to be on the safe side, it's a good idea to make sure you have a space or a period at the end of the link text, so that it will be easy for you to know where the link text stops. Then, highlight the specific word(s) that the user will click on.

STEP THREE: Create link. With the link text word(s) highlighted, click on the Link icon. A box will pop up allow you to enter the http address of the link you want to create. You should copy-and-paste the webpage address from the browser bar into this box. Do not try to type the webpage address manually; instead, copy-and-paste the address, making sure you include the http part at the beginning of the address. 

When you are done, click OK. You should now see the link text underlined on your webpage. If you want to change the color of the link, see these instructions for adjusting the colors on your page, including the link text colors.

Here is how to create an INTERNAL link, linking to a webpage inside your own website.

STEP ONE: Link text. In the Composer window, type the link text that the user will see and click on. Just to be on the safe side, it's a good idea to make sure you have a space or a period at the end of the link text, so that it will be easy for you to know where the link text stops.Then, highlight the specific word(s) that the user will click on.

STEP TWO: Create link. With the link text word(s) highlighted, click on the Link icon. In the Link box that pops up, use the Choose File button to select the webpage file you want to link to. You will need to navigate to the folder where you have your webpage files, and click on the filename of the webpage you want to link to. 

When the filename is highlighted, click on Open, and you will then be returned to the Link box. Click OK to create the link. You should now see the link text underlined on your webpage. If you want to change the color of the link, see these instructions for adjusting the colors on your page, including the link text colors.

If you are having trouble, here are some Tips for Troubleshooting Links - there are two main problems you might run into, and I've provided detailed instructions for how to take care of them.