Types of Hyperlinking Methods
Hyperlinks are coded to relay the Web page destination to the browser when a visitor clicks on the text that his hyperlinked. The hyperlink is often accompanied by an anchor text, which is a snippet that describes the destination website or Web page. Hyperlinks can lead to pages within a website or to other sites. These are called absolute hyperlinks. Hyperlinks can also navigate to other pages, based on the directory system of a particular website. These are called relative hyperlinks.
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Absolute Hyperlinks
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Absolute hyperlinks lead a visitor to another website or a page on another site. Clicking on a hyperlink would be the same as if a visitor entered a page's URL into the browser. This form of hyperlink works as a shortcut.
Example:
<a href="www.yourwebsite.com">Click here to go to Yourwebsite.com</a>
In the above example, "a href="www.yourwebsite.com" tells a browser to take a visitor to www.yourwebsite.com. The anchor text is "Click here to go to Yourwebsite.com." This is how the link appears on the page, and gives visitor information about where the link will lead.
Document Relative Hyperlinks
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Document relative hyperlinks lead a visitor to an HTML document or Web page located within a website's directory system. The starting point for navigation is the current folder that is open in the browser.
Example:
<a href="reference.html">Click here to go to the Reference section</a>
In this example, the hyperlink leads a visitor to the web page reference.html. This HTML document is located within the current directory folder that is open in the browser. The anchor text or descriptive snippet is "Click here to go to the Reference section."
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Site Relative Hyperlinks
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A site relative hyperlink works similar to a document relative hyperlink. Instead of navigating from the current folder, a visitor navigates from the root directory.
Example:
<a href="/directory2/subdirectory/Q&A.html">Go to the Q&A Page</a>
In the above example, the hyperlink appears to a visitor as "Go to the Q&A Page." The clicked hyperlink begins navigation from the root or main directory of the website. From the root directory, it goes to a folder called "directory2," and goes to a folder within this directory, called "subdirectory." Within the "sub-directory" folder is an HTML file called "Q&A.HTML."
Internal Hyperlinks
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Internal hyperlinks lead a visitor to a specific section within a page.
Example:
<a href="#About Dog Food">Go To About Dog Food</a>
In the above example, clicking on the anchor text "Go to About Dog Food," will lead to a section on the same page, titled "About Dog Food." This is signified by the command "#About Dog Food." This tells the browser to search for the words "About Dog Food" on the page, and then leads the visitor there.
Email Hyperlinks
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An email hyperlink opens the default email program of a visitor, and prepares an email message to be sent to a specific email address. The subject line can also be pre-prepared.
Example:
<a href="mailto:admin@yourwebsite.com?subject=Questions">Click here to email Me</a>
In the above example, the anchor text of the hyperlink appears as "Click here to email Me." When clicked, the command "mailto:admin@yourwebsite.com" tells the browser to open the default email program (for example, Outlook), and to address the email to "admin@yourwebsite.com." The command "?subject=Questions" tells the email program to make the subject line: Questions.
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References
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