Hyperlinks

Clearly identify the target of each 'deep link', using appropriate link text and title. Remember to check for 'broken links'

Deep links

• Deep links are specific links that take users straight to the information they are after.
• Always use deep links. Generic links, such as links to a company's homepage, should be avoided.

For example, if someone is looking for information about their local County Councillor, they should be given a deep link to the specific page on the local County Council website that provides information about their local County Councillor. They should not be given a generic link to the homepage of the local County website. So, for example, someone wanting information about the County Councillor for the Keyworth division might be presented with this link:

<a
href="http://www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/your_council/councillors/cllr-details.htm?memberid=205"
title="Nottinghamshire County Council website: Councillor details for John Cottee">

Link text

• Highlight text that makes sense when read out of context. For example, avoid "click here."
• Link text should be terse. For example, write "learn to use Dreamweaver" instead of "Click here for information about about how to use Dreamweaver".

Link title

Every anchor tag (<a>) must contain a hyperlink reference tag (href) and a title tag (title).

• The hyperlink reference (href) tag gives the location being linked to.
• The title tag gives a description of the link location.

An example of a valid hyperlink tag:

<a
href="http://validator.w3.org"
title="World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) website: Markup Validation Service">

Broken links

• Check every hyperlink sends people where you intend.
• Hold your mouse over the link to check it has been given the correct title.
• Then click on the link to check it works.

Adjacent links

Include non-link, printable characters (surrounded by spaces) between adjacent links. For example:

• Do not write, "Filename personal document format (PDF) Word."
• Write something like this: "Filename is available as a PDF or Word file."

New windows

• Do not cause pop-ups or other windows to appear.
• Do not change the current window without informing the user.

Adding links in Acrobat

Information on how to add links in Acrobat will appear here.

Adding links in Dreamweaver

Only add links not already in Webstructure:

1. Enter a deep link in the Link box.
2. Provide an informative link title in the html code.

Attachment title

For attachments, the textual description should end with the file type. For example:

<a
href="http://www.organisation.gov.uk/attachments/documents/ibm_report.pdf"
title="Local Authority Website Guidelines - PDF">