A hyperlink in HTML lets you 'jump' from one place in a document to another place, or to 'jump' to a different document in another location. Generally you first need to confirm the location of the document or place in the document you want to jump to, and then you can create a hyperlink to that location. In HTML the Anchor element is used to delimit a hyperlink. Before you start to put a lot of hyperlinks in your document it's a good idea to have a thorough understanding of the difference between a Relative and an Absolute address.

This code example can be explained as follows:

Beyond this point it is a good idea to understand the difference between a Relative Address and an Absolute Address. If you understand that difference, using a relative address here is how to create a hyperlink to a different document in the same directory:

<A HREF="DocumentName.html">Link Text</A>

To create a hyperlink using a relative address, to a different document in a different directory in the same branch:

To link to a directory contained within the Parent Directory, use the ../ indicator in relative addresses. This can be repeated as many times as necessary to target the appropriate parent directory:

To create a link to a document located on a different server, use an absolute address:

To create a named point in your document that can be linked to, use the following code construct:

This will create an invisible point in your document called #AnchorName, which can be referenced from a link in the same document, or in other documents. The link text is optional. If text is enclosed within the named anchor point, that text will load at the top of the browser window.

To create a hyperlink to a named anchor point in the same document, use the following code construct:

To create a hyperlink to a named anchor point in a different document in the same directory on the same server, use the following code construct:

[ Return to the Table O' Contents | Return to Chapter 1 Examples | Procede to Chapter 2 ]