Creating Links

To add a hyperlink to a page, you need to select the text you want to turn into a link, then provide the URL for the link. A URL (Uniform Resource Locator) is the Web address that you would type into the Address bar of a Web browser.

You will find much more information about adding links to your pages in Chapter 7. You'll see how to add links to either text or graphics, and lots of other linky goodness.

To add a link to a page:

1.

Select the text you want to turn into a link ( Figure 3.14 ). Figure 3.14. Begin creating a link by selecting the text that you want to turn into the link. In this example, I want to turn the "HomeCook. info " text at the top of the page into a link to the home page of the site, so I've selected that text.

2.

Do one of the following: If you are linking to a page in your site, click the Point to File button in the Property Inspector ( Figure 3.15 ), then drag to a file in the Files panel ( Figure 3.16 ). When you release the mouse button, the file name appears in the Link field. Figure 3.15. Click the Point to File button to begin the linking process... Figure 3.16. ... then drag to point at the file you want to link to in the Files panel. As you drag, Dreamweaver follows your mouse pointer with an arrow to make it clear which file you're pointing at. or If you are linking to a file on your hard drive (inside or outside of your local site folder), click the Browse to File button in the Property Inspector. The Select File dialog appears ( Figure 3.17 ). Navigate to the file you want to link to, select it, then click OK (Choose). The file name appears in the Link field. If the file is outside of the local root folder, Dreamweaver lets you know and offers to copy the file into the local root folder ( Figure 3.18 ). Figure 3.17. You can also create a link by clicking the Browse to File button in the Property Inspector, which brings up this Select File dialog. Figure 3.18. If the file you are selecting is outside your local root folder, Dreamweaver offers to copy the file to that folder as part of the linking process. or If you are linking to a Web address, click in the Link field in the Property Inspector and type the full URL of the link destination. You must include the http:// portion of the address.

Tips

• You can also copy a URL from the Address bar of a Web browser (or anywhere else) and paste the URL into the Link field.

• You aren't limited to Web links, which begin with http:// , of course; you can put any valid URL in the Link field, including links for FTP, email addresses, and more. Again, see Chapter 7 for more information.