To use link controls, you need to do some preparation work first. The most basic preparation involves creating topics so you have places to navigate to. Additionally, you'll want to consider the navigation strategy — how users should work with the controls and what topics they should go to.
Some controls are very basic and others involve a few more steps, as explained next.
Related topics controls are the quickest and most straightforward link controls. You assign links to related topics controls based on the names of topics in your project. First, you create the topics. Then, you add the controls by selecting the topics you want to use with them, based on their titles.
A keyword link control is an access aid that lets users retrieve topics based on common keywords. The topic titles are listed when users click the control.
You assign topics to keyword links based on the keywords they reference. First, you create the topics. Second, you add keywords to the topics. Then, you add the controls by selecting the keywords referenced by the topics. Whenever you remove keywords from topics, the controls are automatically updated.
An ALink control is a mechanism for cross-referencing groups of topics. Users access topics based on common ALink names that organize them into groups. The topic titles are listed when users click the control.
You assign topics to ALinks based on the ALink names assigned to them. First, you create the topics. Second, you assign ALink names to them. Then, you add the controls by selecting the ALink names assigned to the topics. Whenever you remove ALinks from topics, the controls are automatically updated.