Linking

Introduction

Links are the glue holding the web together, so make sure you understand how to properly link to external websites AND internal files.

Learning outcomes

• What's the difference between internal links (/somepage) and external links (http://www.somesite.com/somepage)?

• When on a webpage should you use the full URI (with the http://yoursite.com/somepath) and when should you use the relative path (/somepath)?

• How do you navigate the document tree with links (../../someotherpage)?

• How do you open links in external windows?

• What are all the possible pseudo-states (e.g. :hover) of a link and when are they actually activated? How do you change styles based on them?

Assignment

1. Read Lena Shore's explanation of the difference between absolute and relative paths.

2. Browse Boogie Jack's article on link paths.

3. Read Six Revisions' article on link pseudo-classes.

Additional resources

This section contains helpful links to other content. It isn't required, so consider it supplemental for if you need to dive deeper into something.

• Glance over About.com's article on linking if you need any additional support