| There are a couple of different ways to create hyperlinks. A hyperlink is how pages are connected on the Web. You'll look at how you can link to other files within your site as well as how to link to external Web pages and Web sites. Creating a Link Using the Browse to File Method To hyperlink existing text within your document, highlight the text, and in the Properties Inspector you'll notice a text field labeled Link. The first option is to type in the name of the file you want to hyperlink, including the full path. The full path is usually the most difficult part to remember. Instead, you can click the small folder icon at the end of the link text field, which opens a Select File dialog box. In the dialog box, you can search your local root folder for the file you want the text to link to. When you find it, highlight it and click the Choose (Mac) or Select (Windows) button. Dreamweaver will not only link to the appropriate file, but it will also append the correct path. It's a good idea to save your work and test the link by previewing the page in a Web browser. The best way to do that is to choose File, Preview In Browser, and then select the browser of your choice. After setting up links this way, the Link text field turns into a drop-down menu where you can pick from a list of links you've used in the site. You can also access links from the Assets panel, which is covered in detail in Chapter 9, "Assets and the Library." Linking to an External Web Site Linking to external Web site is also very simple. The important thing to remember is that you must address the link by using the absolute URL. For example, if you highlighted some text in your document that needed to be linked to an external site, in the Link text field of the Properties Inspector you would have to address the link as follows: http://www.websitename.com. It is very important to include the http://, which sometimes new developers forget. Targeting Links In the Properties Inspector, there is a drop-down menu for targeting options. All but one of the options apply only if you're working with framesets, which I cover in a later chapter. The one option I'd like to share with you here is the _blank option. If you choose _blank in this drop-down menu, when the end user clicks the hyperlink, it will open that link in a new browser window. You typically want to do this when sending visitors to other sites so they don't leave yours entirely. However, you want to use this option wisely. Opening new browser windows can sometimes be confusing for the end user, and additional windows require additional RAM for the end user's computer. Insert Link Object The Insert Link object is found under the Common tab of the Insert panel. This object launches a dialog box offering options to create a hyperlink. You can insert text, links, and targets from within this dialog box. | 
