Creating Links Within the Same Page
To create a link within the same page, for example a link that the reader
can use to jump from one section to another, you must create an anchor
(target location), and then create a link that points to the anchor. Anchors
are also called named anchors.
- Click to place the insertion point at the beginning of a
line where you want to create an anchor, or select some text.
- Open the Insert menu and choose Named Anchor. You see the
Named Anchor Properties dialog box.
- Type a unique name for the anchor in the Anchor Name field
(up to 30 characters). If you include spaces, they will be converted to
underscores ( _ ). If you selected some text in step 1, this box already
contains a name.
- Click OK. An anchor icon appears in your document to mark
the anchor's location:
To create the link on which readers can click to jump to the anchor:
- Select the text or image that you want to link to the
anchor.
- Click the Link button or open the Insert menu and choose
Link. You see the Link Properties dialog box.
- If you're creating a link to an HTML file on your
computer, click Choose File to locate it.
- If you're creating a link to a named anchor (target),
select it from the list of the anchors currently available in the page.
- If you're creating a link to a level heading (for
example, Heading 1 - Heading 6), select it from the list of headings
currently available in the page.
- Click OK.
Note: To test the link you just created, open the File menu and
choose Browse Page, then click the link.
Tip: If you did not first create named anchors, you can use the Link
dialog box to create links to headings that already occur in the page.
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Creating Links to Other Pages
You can create links from your page to local pages on your own computer or
on your workplace's network, or to remote pages on the Internet.
Tip: It's best to first save or publish your page before
you create links to other pages. This allows Composer to automatically use
relative references for links once you create them.
To create a link to another page:
- Click to place the insertion point where you want to
create a link, or select the text or image that you want to link to the
anchor.
- Click the Link button. You see the Link Properties dialog
box.
- Define your link:
- Link text: If you've already selected an image
file or text before clicking the Link button, the selected text or file
will be entered here. Otherwise, you must enter the text that you want to
use as the link.
- Link Location: Type the local path and filename or
remote URL of the page you want to link to. If you're not sure of the
path and filename for a local file, click Choose File to look for it on
your hard disk or network. For remote URLs, you can copy the URL from the
browser location field. Alternatively, you can select a named anchor or a
heading in the current page that you want to link to.
- URL is relative to page location: If checked,
Composer converts the URL to be relative to the page's location. This is
especially useful if you plan to publish your pages to a web server so
that others can view them. Using relative URLs allows you to keep all
your linked files in the same place relative to each other, regardless of
their location on your hard disk or a web server.
Deselecting this option causes Composer to convert
the URL to a full (absolute) URL. You typically use absolute URLs when linking
to pages on other web servers (not stored locally on your hard disk).
If you have unsaved changes, you must first save
the page in order to enable this checkbox.
- To apply additional attributes or JavaScript events, click
Advanced Edit to display the Advanced
Property Editor.
- Click OK.
- To test the link you just created, click the Browse button
and then click the link to make sure it works as expected.
Tip: You can copy a link quickly by clicking and dragging the link
from another window and then dropping it onto your page. For example, you can
click and drag a link from a web page, bookmark, or Mail window and drop it
onto your page. You can also right-click (Control+click on Macintosh OS) a link
on a web page and choose Copy Link Location from the menu. Then you can paste
the link location into the Link Location field in the Link Properties dialog
box.