Each hyperlink we create needs to be descriptive - but what does that mean?
Descriptive links make it clear to the user where the link will take them. For example: Find out about fees and funding. Using 'Click here' as a link doesn't indicate the link destination.
Find out more about descriptive links.
The following words are examples of links that you sometimes find on websites. They need to be avoided because they aren't accessible and don’t provide any information about where the link goes.
Find out more about why 'Click here' should not be used.
There are four types of hyperlinks you might use on a webpage.
To link to a document, you will need to have uploaded your document to the Media Library first. But before you upload your document, you must make sure it's accessible.
Once you've uploaded your document to the Media Library, making sure it's in the relevant sub-folder, you're ready to create your link in the Rich Text Editor box.
If you want to link to another a page that is held in Sitecore, such as an event, news item or main website page, you'll need to use the Insert Sitecore Link button.
However, you shouldn't use this function for links to course pages, staff profiles or blogs. You should use the 'Hyperlink Manager' external link tool for these types of pages (see below).
Creating links in Directory pages needs careful planning. Before you create the link, ask yourself:
If you’re editing a Directory page and the page you’re going to link to only sits in one Directory, you need to use the Insert Sitecore link. This is a single link. Highlight the text, then select ‘Insert Sitecore Link’. You then need to navigate through the content folders and find the page.
For example, if you want to link to the ‘Flexible working’ page which is only in the Staff Directory, you need to open - Content - Main Site - Home - Staff Directory Home. That page is in the ‘Employment policies and procedures’ category. Once you find it, just select it and that link will be added. It does mean you need to know which category a page sits in, but a quick search of the Directory will help you find it.
See how to create single links in our Directories training video (at 22.25 mins).
If you’re linking to another article that is cloned into both Staff and Student Directories, you need to use the Insert Contextual Sitecore Link button.
This does mean you need to find out whether that page exists in more than one Directory and a quick search on each Directory will help you know that. Generally speaking, People and Culture pages are on the Staff Directory, so this type of link is not needed for those pages. But if you’re linking to Bonds or another catering outlet, for example, these exist in both Directories, so you here you need to use the contextual link button.
Here's the reason why we have to link in this way. If a user is browsing a Staff Directory page, for example, and they want to click on a link to Bonds, we know that there are two copies of the Bonds page, one on each Directory. We don’t want the Staff Directory user to click on that link and be sent to the Bonds page on the Student Directory. So this function instructs Sitecore that if a user is on one Directory they need to be sent to the version of the linked page that is on the same Directory.
To do this:
What you’ll notice is that in the Rich Text Editor box and on the Experience Editor preview, the word you’ve linked appears multiple times. That’s ok, it won’t show like this on the website when it's published.
See how to create contextual links in our Directories training video (at 19.20 mins).
To link to another organisation’s website or to a page on a University of Essex website, but one which isn’t in Sitecore, such as HR Organiser for example, you need to use the ‘Hyperlink manager’ button. Select the Hyperlink tab and paste the web address into the URL box.
To add an email address, you need to have the email address written out on the page. Copy the address and then go to the ‘Hyperlink Manager’ button. Select the email tab and paste the email address into the address box.
An anchor link is a link that takes users to a particular place on a web page. This can be helpful if a page has a lot of text on it.
In Sitecore you can create an anchor link to a specific place on a web page, or you can link to an accordion module item.
To create an anchor link (usually that's to a paragraph heading) you first need to set up an anchor tag. This gives your link somewhere to go to. For example, if you wanted to link to the “Learn To courses” heading in the below example, you would need to give that heading an anchor tag.
Open the Text Editor Box and select the 'HTML' tab at the bottom of the box. Highlighted below, is the code you need to add to the heading. The name you enter here will be your anchor:
<h2 id="learn-to-courses">Learn To courses</h2>
You also need to make sure that no spaces or uppercase letters are in the tag.
An anchor link on the same page would be #learn-to-courses. If you link from a different page, you need to include the full page URL. So for example: https://www.essex.ac.uk/sport/active-campus#learn-to-courses.
Accordion items are given anchor tags automatically. So to link to an accordion item, you don’t need to set up any additional tags.
When creating your hyperlink, just use the title of the accordion item and swap the spaces with hyphens and add a hashtag. You also need to make sure that no uppercase letters are in the tag. For example, if you wanted to link to this accordion item “Anchor links”, your link would be #anchor-links. If you link from a different page you need to include the full page URL. So in this case: https://www.essex.ac.uk/staff/web-support/creating-links#anchor-links.
The accordion item will be automatically expanded for the user to read the content. You can’t anchor link to something inside an accordion item as the accordion item will be closed by default.