The Anchor Tag <A> |
The Explanation |
The HTML Code |
| The Anchor Tag, also known as the <A> Tag directs the browser to another document on the server, another server, or a location within the same page as the <A> Tag appears. Each time you have clicked your mouse over a link to connect to another section on this web site, you have activated an <A> Tag. |
Because of formatting problems between browsers Pop Up Windows will be used to display the HTML code. You may copy and paste this code into your working document.
The Code |
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| The attribute, "HREF", tells the browser this is going to be a Hyper Link to another document. The document can be another web page, an image file, or an audio MIME/TYPE file for playing sound files. Shown in example 1. |
Example 1. The Code |
| The "HREF" can point to an absolute URL as in example 2. |
Example 2. The Code |
| The "HREF" can point to a relative URL located on the same web server as in example 3. "../Images/Computer.gif" tells the browser to move up one level on this server and down into Images and locate the image file, "Computer.gif". |
Example 3. The Code |
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| "Computer Image" is the text that will appear highlighted with the image when displayed in the browser. In this case, with an image, the text can be eliminated as long as the image tells the visitor what the hyper link is and where it is going. |
The Code |
| In the first code example the text is Armadillo Web Design, this text must be included, or the hyper link will be invisible. |
The Code |
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| The "Title" attribute is additional text that can be displayed as a tool tip when the mouse passes over the hyper link. The Text included in the hyper link may not be enough of a description for the link, the Title attribute can add more information. It can also be used to insert "Keywords" into your document for search engine spiders to index your page. This attribute only works in the most recent browser versions, older versions ignore the attribute. |
The Code
Just pass your mouse over this hyper link. Computer Image Even though the "Title" attribute performs in only the most recent browser versions it is well worth the extra effort to include it for the spiders. |
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Name Attribute
The "Name" attribute is where we link to specific locations within a web page. We can link to a location within the same web page, or we can link to another web page and to a specific location on that page. |
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| We use the standard <A> Tag with the "HREF" attribute to identify this as a hyperlink, and we use the "#" sign for the name of the location. See code example 1. |
1. <A href="#TopofPage">Go to Top of Page</A> |
| We use a modified <A> Tag with the Name="…" attribute to identify the location where the browser stops. See code example 2. |
2. <A Name="TopofPage">Top of Page</A> |
| For an example on how this works click on the link, "Go to Top of Page". At the "Top" of the page, next to the phrase "Top of Page", click on the link, "Name Attribute". |
Go to Top of Page
Below is another Pop Up window with all the HTML code for this page so you can see how the "Name Attribute" and the "#TopofPage" are written.
The Code |
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