How to add Links
Links allow you to create the following types of functionality on a web page:
• Direct users to other pages on the site
• Direct users to pages on external websites
• Allow users to download for a PDF, or other document
• Allow users to send an email
How to phrase your links
1: Don’t say “Click here to...”
On the web, people click. They’re not going to push or pull or bounce on it, so you can be more
direct and say “View..” or “Download...”
2: Start with a verb
“Download the...”; “View a...”; “Read the...” are all good words for links. They tell users to do
something, and they suggest the type of content that will result from clicking the link.
3: Be descriptive
Say what it is that the user will get. “Download” doesn’t tell me what I’m downloading. “Download
the April 2010 itinerary” tells me what I’m downloading.
4: File size indications
If the file is bigger than 1MB you should say what size it is and what type of file it is: “Download the
Instructions (PDF, 1.5MB)”
File types
Don’t offer Microsoft Office documents as downloads. Convert them to PDFs.
If you offer a Word document from your business as a download, anyone can download it, change it
and republish it as the original.
Created 27 July 2010 All content © Black Square
There are 3 types of links that you can use:
1: Inline links
Inline links are links in a sentence in the text, like so: “... as well as full instructions on how to add
links to your text.”
In this case, the words “full instructions” will link to another page with full instructions or a PDF with
the instructions.
Follow these steps to add an inline link:
1: Select the text that you want to have as the link
The text should be 2 – 5 words long,
not just a single word.
2: Click the “Insert/Edit Link” icon
Just to the left of the “style” selector
3: This will open the Link Editor.
The Link Editor offers you some options:
Linking to a page on the same website
• Click the “Browse” Icon
• Select the “Internal Link” tab (see screenshots below)
• Click on the page that you want to link to (You may need to use the + and – controls to view
2nd and 3rd level pages to link to)
• Select “Open in this window / frame” from the Target drop-down selector.
• Click “Update”
Downloading a PDF or other file
• Click the “Browse” Icon
• Select the “Resources” tab (see screenshots below)
• Click on the document that you want to link to
• Select “Open in new window (_blank)” from the Target drop-down selector. This will cause
the document to open in a new window or tab
• Click “Update”
Linking to a page on another website
• Browse to the web page that you want to link to
• Select and copy the full URL for the page that you want to link to (The URL is in the address
bar of your internet browser. Select from the http:// all the way to the end of the address)
• Come back to the Link Editor and paste the URL into the “Link URL” field
• Select “Open in new window (_blank)” from the Target drop-down selector. This will cause
the page to open in a new window or tab
• Click “Update”
Created 27 July 2010 All content © Black Square
Linking to an Email address (mailto link)
When a user clicks on a mailto link, the website will open their email programme and open a new
email to the email address in the mailto link.
• In the Link URL field, type mailto: followed by the email address you want to link to
• For example: “mailto: tom@blacksquare.co.za”
• You can ignore the Target drop-down selector on
• Click “Update”
CREATING LINKS USING THE LINK EDITOR:
Created 27 July 2010 All content © Black Square
2: arrowlinks
Arrowlinks are specially designed links that sit in their own paragraph, like so:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------The document contains diagrams and notes as well as full instructions on how to add links to your
text.
>> VIEW FULL INSTRUCTIONS
------------------------------------------------------------------------In this case “>> VIEW FULL INSTRUCTIONS” will link to the page or PDF.
Arrowlinks make links stand out more than inline links.
Arrowlinks usually have specially designed arrows or bullet points which help to define them as user
actions.
Follow these steps to create an arrowlink:
1: Follow all the steps as you would for creating an inline link.
2: Once you have filled in the Link URL field and chosen a Target, click the Class drop-down selector
and select “arrowlink”.
Created 27 July 2010 All content © Black Square
3: Image links
Image links are images that act as links, like so:
Toucans are lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur
adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore
et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis
nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea
commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in
reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat
nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non
proident, sunt in culpa qui.
In this case the image of the toucan will link to the relevant page or PDF.
Images can be made into links in exactly the same way as lines of text.
Simply select the image and follow the instructions for adding an inline link.
Created 27 July 2010 All content © Black Square