Links

Hyperlinks (or "Links") can be applied to almost any type of content to redirect a website visitor to another location.  Linked content on your agency website an be used to reference other web accessible locations, such as other Commonwealth agency  or other websites.  

Text is perhaps the most common way to create a link.  

Add a Link

1. Select a section of text that will become the link.  Please note:  avoid using "Click Here" in links and instead refer to the name of the destination page or a short description. 
   
2. On the ribbon, click the Insert tab. 
   
3. Click the Link icon. 
   
4. Link menu displays.  Click to select one of the following ways to insert a link. 
   From SharePoint:  this will link to a file (page, document, image, etc.) within your Commonwealth agency website.  Use this option to link within your own agency website as SharePoint will keep track of any files moved within the site and automatically update links. 
   From Address:  this will link to any web-accessible location.  These types of links are "hard-coded", meaning that if the destination changes (or is removed entirely) it will result in a broken link for visitors (i.e., the "Page Not Found "message or similar). Use this option to link to  Commonwealth agency or other external websites. 
   
5. Once a link has been set, the Link tab will appear on the ribbon. 
   

Change Link Properties

The Link tab will allow you to change properties of the image.   A few of the more commonly used properties are described below:

URL:  the address (i.e., destination) of the link.  URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator and represents the unique address of any web-accessible file, whether it is another web page, file, document, etc. 

Description:  similar to Alt Text for an image, the Description provides a caption for the link.  Please note:  all links should have a Description.  Just as with Alt Text, the Description does not have to be long but should describe where the link points to.  For more information, please see Accessibility.  

Bookmark:  this field is used to denote certain points in a page where a link will "jump to" once clicked.  For example, if you wanted to redirect a website visitor to a particular section of another page, the Bookmark feature can be used to not only open the link but to automatically jump to that point in the page.  Bookmarks should be used sparingly and require specific ways to indicate where a link should "jump to".  Since content often changes on web pages, simple and effective content writing will often negate any need for a Bookmark.