Topic:

<A> ... </A> Anchor

Definition:

This tag indicates a hypertext link, which can be either the source or the destination. If it's the destination, it will use the NAME attribute; if it's the source, the HREF attribute.

Attributes:

HREF="URL"

URL is a standard uniform resource locator, and specifies the location of another Internet resource, usually another HTML file, but can also point to FTP, Telnet, WAIS, e-mail, or gopher resources.

NAME="text"

supplies a marked location within the document to act as a destination for a hypertext link. This marked location is defined by the supplied text string which must be unique, within a single HTML document. An anchor of this type is called an internal anchor.

REL=("next"|"previous"|"parent"|"made")

The REL attribute specifies the relationship between the current anchor and the destination.

"Next" indicates that the URL points to the next page in a sequence, "previous" that it points to the prior page, while "parent" indicates that the current page is the parent of the destination page. "Made" indicates that the destination page contains information about the current anchor page's maker or owner.

REV=("next"|"previous"|"parent"|"made")

REV is the reverse of the REL attribute, and indicates the destination and the current anchor. All of the attribute values are the same, but apply to the page that the URL points to. Here, "made" indicates that this document contains information about the maker or owner of the destination page.

TITLE="text"

provides advisory information about the title of the destination document (usually, the same text as enclosed by the <TITLE> ... </TITLE> tags in that document).

Context:

<A> ... </A> is legal within:
<ADDRESS> <B> <CITE> <CODE> <DD> <DT> <EM> <H*> <I> <KBD> <LI> <PRE> <SAMP> <STRONG> <TT> <VAR>

The following markup can be used within <A> ... </A>:

<B> <BR> <CITE> <CODE> <EM> <I> <IMG> <KBD> <SAMP> <STRONG> <TT> <VAR>

Suggested style/usage:

Anchors should be innermost when used within nested markup, except when using embedded character controls, font styles, or line breaks. Relative URLs make for more compact references, but require more maintenance.

Example:

<A HREF="wwwe.htm">WWWE Homepage</A>

<A HREF="http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/General/Internet/WWW/HTMLPrimer.html">A Beginner's Guide to HTML</A>