User Guide

Chapter 8: Multimedia
To test a hyperlink:
1.
Select the Hyperlink pointer from the Toolbox.
2. Move the cursor over an object that contains a hyperlink. The cursor changes to a hand.
3. Click the hand on the object and the associated program launches; e.g., Web browser, e-
mail program.
About file locations and URLs
In most cases, Web files are created on one computer and transferred to a Web server that is
connected to the Internet. You might create Web pages on your home or office computer, then
transfer the files over a network or the Internet to a Web server.
Web pages often contain links to other Web pages on the same Web server. Because these links are
based on the names and locations of the files on the Web server, changing file names or locations can
break the links among the pages.
To successfully create hyperlinks among Web pages on your site, you should understand how to use
relative directory paths, absolute directory paths, and Internet URL addresses.
Absolute paths: An absolute path specifies a file’s location starting at the top, or root, of
the directory structure in which the file is stored; e.g., if a file named “Calendar.html” is
stored in a folder named Events, inside a folder named Public, which is inside a folder named
Home at the root of the hard drive, the path to the file is:
/Home/Public/Events/Calendar.html
Relative paths: A relative path specifies the location of a file relative to the location of
another file in the same directory structure. Rather than starting at the root of the directory
structure, a relative path starts at the location of one file or folder and lists the relative steps
needed to get to the specified file. In a relative path, the symbol ../ (two periods and a slash)
signifies a move up one step toward the root level in the directory structure.
Complete URLs: Like an absolute path, a complete URL lists the directory path starting at
the root to the location of a Web page on a server. In addition to the path and file name, a
complete URL includes a protocol (http or ftp) and a domain name.
When you create hyperlinks, you can specify the target as a relative path or a complete URL.
If the two pages are in the same folder or directory, the relative path is simply the name of
the target file.
A complete URL specifies the actual location of the file on a Web server on the Internet.
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