What Is A Hyperlink? – A Definition With FAQ For Non-Techies

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Text links are usually in a different color from the rest of the text or underlined. Text hyperlinks can be displayed as real words, such as Home Page, or as an actual web address: www.learnthenet.com. Both of these hyperlinks will take you to our home page.

Also See: Anchor, Hypertext, World Wide Web

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I change the color of hyperlinks on my website?

By default, most website creators make hyperlinks appear blue and underlined until they have been clicked on. After being clicked on, they appear purple. If you would prefer your hyperlinks to have another color, you can set that color either by updating the settings in your website creator or content management system, or by specifying hyperlink properties in your website’s CSS pages. You can specify any color you want, and specify whether the link should be underlined or have any other formatting applied, both for pre-clicked hyperlinks and post-clicked links.

Is hyperlink the same thing as hypertext?

There is some disagreement over what qualifies as hyperlink and hypertext. Some sites will tell you that hypertext is simply the words on your site with links embedded in them, and hyperlinks are the URLs contained within those link. We prefer the more traditional definition, which is that hypertext is any document that contains links (this entire page is hypertext), while the links themselves are hyperlinks. For more information, see the hypertext definition in the Interactive Glossary.

Can I use hyperlinks in non-web applications?

Yes. Hyperlinks are commonly used for other forms of electronic communications. For instance, e-books utilize hyperlinks to help readers navigate between the table of contents and each chapter. Office documents often use hyperlinks to connect different sections of a file, or to link to another file. Hyperlinks can also be embedded in non-web documents in order to provide a direct link to something on the Internet, such as linking to a website from within a PDF file.

Do you have to specify an exact address when creating hyperlinks to my own webpages?

If you are creating hyperlinks to another website, you should always use the full URL. However, if you are linking to your own website, you may be able to use a local link. This way, your link address will continue to work even if you need to move your website to another domain. If you’re using a website creator, you can usually select the site page you want to link to from a menu, similar to the way you would select a local file to open on your computer. Provided the page you want to link to is in the same folder as the page you’re linking from, you can also use a local URL, simply entering the name of the page and its extension into the hyperlink menu, without the rest of the web address. If in doubt, use the full URL. And always test your links before publishing.