Links are found in nearly all web pages. Links allow users to click their way from page to page.

HTML links are hyperlinks.

You can click on a link and jump to another document.

When you move the mouse over a link, the mouse arrow will turn into a little hand.

PS: A lik does not have to be text. It can be an image or any other HTML element.

In HTML, links are defined with the <a> tag:

Example

<a href="https://www.revplit.com/">Visit this site</a>
                                

 

Result

Vist this site

The href attribute specifies the destination address (https://www.revplit.com/) of the link.

The link text is the visible part (Visit this site).

Clicking on the link text will send you to the specified address.

Note: Without a forward slash on subfolder addresses, you might generate two requests to the server. Many servers will automatically add a forward slash to the address, and then create a new request.

The example above used an absolute URL (A full web address).

A local link (link to the same web site) is specified with a relative URL (without http://www....).

Example

<a href="randompage.php">Visit this page</a>
                                  

 

By default, a link will appear like this (in all browsers):

• An unvisited link is underlined and blue
• A visited link is underlined and purple
• An active link is underlined and red

You can change the default colors, by using styles:

Example

<style>
a:link {
    color: green;
    background-color: transparent;
    text-decoration: none;
}

a:visited {
    color: pink;
    background-color: transparent;
    text-decoration: none;
}

a:hover {
    color: red;
    background-color: transparent;
    text-decoration: underline;
}

a:active {
    color: yellow;
    background-color: transparent;
    text-decoration: underline;
}
</style>
                                    

 

The target attribute specifies where to open the linked document.

The target attribute can have one of the following values:

• _blank - Opens the linked document in a new window or tab
• _self - Opens the linked document in the same window/tab as it was clicked (this is default)
• _parent - Opens the linked document in the parent frame
• _top - Opens the linked document in the full body of the window
• framename - Opens the linked document in a named frame

This example will open the linked document in a new browser window/tab:

Example

<a href="https://revplit.com/" target="_blank">Visit Revplit!</a>
                                    

 

Tip: If your webpage is locked in a frame, you can use target="_top" to break out of the frame:

Example

<a href="https://revplit.com/" target="_top">Visit Revplit!</a>
                                    

 

It is common to use images as links:

Example

<a href="default.php">
  <img src="smiley.gif" alt="Revplit tutorial" style="width:42px;height:42px;border:0;">
</a>
                                        

 

Note: border:0; is added to prevent IE9 (and earlier) from displaying a border around the image (when the image is a link).

HTML bookmarks are used to allow readers to jump to specific parts of a Web page.

Bookmarks can be useful if your webpage is very long.

To make a bookmark, you must first create the bookmark, and then add a link to it.

When the link is clicked, the page will scroll to the location with the bookmark.

Example

First, create a bookmark with the id attribute:

<h2 id="C4">Chapter 4</h2>
                                        

 

Then, add a link to the bookmark ("Jump to Chapter 4"), from within the same page:

<a href="#C4">Jump to Chapter 4</a>
                                        

 

Or, add a link to the bookmark ("Jump to Chapter 4"), from another page:

<a href="html_page.html#C4">Jump to Chapter 4</a>
                                        

 

External pages can be referenced with a full URL or with a path relative to the current web page.

This example uses a full URL to link to a web page:

Example

<a href="https://support.google.com/">Google Support</a>
                                            

 

This example links to a page located in the html folder on the current web site:

Example

<a href="/html/support.php">HTML Support</a>
                                            

 

This example links to a page located in the same folder as the current page:

Example

<a href="support.php">HTML Support</a>
                                            

 

• Use the <a> element to define a link
• Use the href attribute to define the link address
• Use the target attribute to define where to open the linked document
• Use the <img> element (inside <a>) to use an image as a link
• Use the id attribute (id="value") to define bookmarks in a page
• Use the href attribute (href="#value") to link to the bookmark