How to Create a Link When Designing a Web Page

by Elvis Michael, Demand Media

HTML can get complicated, but a simple link is easy to formulate.

Web page authors often use Hypertext Markup Language, also known as HTML. A hyperlink is an element of a web page that leads to another Web source when clicked. It uses the anchor element, one of many commands given to a Web browser. Then an attribute is used to describe the preceding element.

Step 1

Open your desired HTML editor. If you're working on an existing HTML project, point the mouse cursor to the specific part of the document where you wish to place the link.

Step 2

Open the HTML structure with the < bracket. Then, use the a anchor element, followed by a space:

Step 3

Type the href attribute followed by the = sign. Insert the address of the Web page you wish to link to, surrounded by double quotes. Then close the HTML structure with the > bracket. So far what you have should look like this:

Step 4

Type a general description of the link to which you are pointing; this will be the text of the link, which will show up on your page. Close the entire anchor with the closing tag . This represents the closing of the given hyperlink setup. A finished example looks like this: Welcome to CNN News.

Step 5

Test the hyperlink by saving the HTML document (if using Windows Notepad, add the .html extension manually to the document name) and then double-clicking it to launch it from your default browser. The document should show the text of your link, which should then take you to the Web page specified.

Warnings

HTML codes are not case-sensitive.

References

EchoEcho: How to Make a Link

Resources

w3schools: HTML Tutorial

About the Author

Elvis Michael has been writing professionally since 2007, contributing technology articles to various online outlets. He is pursuing a Bachelor of Science in information technology at Northeastern University.