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- What is it?
- The A tag is one of the key distinctive features of HTML which
defines a link that allows webs of information to be created. The
Hyperlink element indicates a portion of text and/or an object that
serves as a hot area for the user to activate to jump to another
location. The A tag can serve as a destination of a URL, an invocation
of a URL, or both at the same time.
To invoke invoke a Bookmark either in a current document or in a remote
document, the Bookmark NAME must be prefaced by a hash mark symbol
("#") [See examples below.] If no Bookmark is specified in the
HREF statement, the browser will default to the top of the document.
- Attributes
- Href
- 2
| 3 | 3.2
| IE1 | M1
| N1
- Required? No
- Description:
This attribute indicates the URL to be loaded when the hyperlinked
object is activated. Either this attribute or the NAME attribute
MUST be present in the A tag.
- Values: Either relative or absolute URLs.
- Name
- 2
| 3 | 3.2
| IE1 | M1
| N1
- Required? No
- Description:
This attribute assigns a symbolic name to the enclosed object
(text, image, etc.) in order to use it as a destination in a hyperlink or
other URL call. Either this attribute or the HREF attribute
MUST be present in the A tag.
- Values: Alphanumeric characters.
- Target
- 2
| 3 | 3.2
| IE3A1 | M
| N2
- Required? No
- Description:
This attribute specifies the named frame for the HREF hyperlink to
jump to when activated.
- Values: The TARGET
reserved names apply.
Event Handler Attributes
- [For more information on Event Handlers, please see the
SCRIPT page.]
- onClick
- 2
| 3 | 3.2
| IE3B1 | M
| N2B3
- Required? No
- Description:
A click Event Handler executes Script code when a hyperlink is clicked.
- Values: Script statements or an
external function call.
- onMouseOver
- 2
| 3 | 3.2
| IE3B1 | M
| N2B3
- Required? No
- Description:
A mouseOver Event Handler executes Script code once each time the
mouse pointer moves over a hyperlink from outside the hyperlink.
- Values: Script statements or an
external function call.
- onMouseOut
- 2
| 3 | 3.2
| IE | M
| N3
- Required? No
- Description:
A mouseOut Event Handler executes Script code once each time the
mouse pointer exits from the bounds of a hyperlink from inside the
hyperlink.
- Values: Script statements or an
external function call.
Other Attributes
- Methods
- 2
| 3 | 3.2
| IE | M
| N
- Required? No
- Description:
This attribute should specify methods to be used in accessing the
destination, as a whitespace-separated list of names. For similar
reasons as for the TITLE attribute, it may be useful to include the
information in advance in the link. For example, the browser may
choose a different rendering display (possibly a special icon) for a
destination that is searchable. None of the popular browsers ever
implemented this attribute and it has since disappeared from the
current HTML 3.2 Draft.
- Values:
The set of applicable names is a function of the protocol scheme of
the URL in the HREF attribute.
- Rel
- 2
| 3 | 3.2
| IE | M
| N
- Required? No
- Description:
The REL attribute is not currently used by any of the popular
browsers, but is meant to give the relationship(s) described by the
hyperlink.
- Values: A whitespace separated list
of relationship names.
- Rev
- 2
| 3 | 3.2
| IE | M
| N
- Required? No
- Description:
The REL attribute is not currently used by any of the popular browsers.
It is basically meant to be the same as the REL attribute, but the
semantics of the relationship are in the reverse direction. A link from
A to B with REL="X" expresses the same relationship as a
link from B to A with REV="X". An anchor may have both REL
and REV attributes.
- Values: A whitespace separated list
of relationship names.
- Title
- 2
| 3 | 3.2
| IE | M
| N
- Required? No
- Description:
This attribute suggests a title (advisory only) for the destination
resource. The TITLE attribute may be used for display prior to
accessing the destination resource (such as in a margin note or in a
pop-up box while the mouse is over the hyperlink), or for resources
that do not include titles (like graphics, plain text documents or
Gopher menus.)
- Values: An alpanumeric string.
- URN
- 2
| 3 | 3.2
| IE | M
| N
- Required? No
- Description:
This attribute was originally meant to specify a more persistent
identifier for the NAME value of the hyperlink, but none of the popular
browsers ever implemented this attribute. It has since disappeared from
the current HTML 3.2 Draft.
- Values: NA
Style Sheet Attributes
[More on Cascading Style Sheets]
- Class
- 2 | 3
| 3.2 | IE3B1
| M | N4B2
- Required? No
- Description:
This represents an assigned semantic classification grouping(s) for the
current tag.
- Values:
Given as a comma separated list of alphanumeric characters. Class names
may contain spaces (multiple consecutive spaces treated as a single
space.)
- ID
- 2 | 3
| 3.2 | IE3B1
| M | N4B2
- Required? No
- Description:
This assigns an alpha-numeric identifier that is unique
to this tag instance. Style sheets may use this attribute to reference
the current instance of this tag. Hyperlinks may also use this identifier
to serve as a destination.
- Values:
An alphanumeric string - initial character must be a letter followed
by alphabetic characters, digits, "-" or "."
characters. The allowable set of alpha-characters is restricted to the
A-Z and a-z set.
- Style
- 2 | 3
| 3.2 | IE3B1
| M | N4B3
- Required? No
- Description:
This attribute is a text string that provides rendering style
information for the current tag.
- Values:
Please see the description of
inline styles for more
information on how to use this attribute and its
possible values.
- Example
- Hyperlink to a document:
- <a HREF="http://www.foo.com/index.html" TARGET="frame1">
Link text that leads to index.html at www.foo.com
</a>
- Hyperlink to a Bookmark in the current document:
- <a HREF="#Bookmark1" TARGET="frame1">
Link text that leads to Bookmark1 in the current document
</a>
- Hyperlink to a Bookmark in an external document:
- <a HREF="http://www.foo.com/index.html#Bookmark1" TARGET="frame1">
Link text that leads to Bookmark1 in index.html at www.foo.com
</a>
- Parent Model
-
%Virtual
Formatting% |
%Physical
Formatting% |
%Block Format
Parent% |
%Multimedia
Parent% |
<Body> |
<Address> |
<Basefont> |
<Heading> |
<Marquee>
- Content Model
- %Text% |
%Virtual Formatting% |
%Physical Formatting% |
%Line Break Content% |
%Multimedia Content%
Tips & Tricks
- Remember when creating an Image Sensitive Map that the IMG tag must
have the ISMAP attribute and be inside a hyperlink to the external
map file.
- Although these pages lists A HREF and A NAME separately in order to
emphasize the distinction in functionality between these two aspects of
the A tag, the HREF and NAME attributes can co-exist in the same tag to
serve as both a jump point and a destination for a jump point.
- If you are using frames, be sure all hyperlinks in your sub-documents
have targets which indicate the desired destination frames.
- A commonly agreed-upon style issue is to make sure your hyperlink
text is descriptive. It is considered good practice to integrate
hyperlinks as seamlessly as possible into runs of text instead of
using something like the very obvious qualifier: "Click Here"
Browser Peculiarities
- A brief history of FONT COLOR and A HREF interaction behavior:
- Netscape 2,3:
- Coloring Hyperlinks only works if the FONT COLOR is applied INSIDE
the hyperlink, and ONLY if both are INSIDE a table cell.
- Internet Explorer 1, 2, 3, Netscape 4.0 Beta 1-3:
- Coloring hyperlinks does not work at all.
- Internet Explorer 4.0, Netscape 4.0 Beta 4+:
- Coloring hyperlinks works anywhere (not just inside tables) if the
FONT COLOR is applied INSIDE the hyperlink.
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