Verifying Hyperlinks

HomeSite makes the job of maintaining sites easier by testing each link in a selection and reporting any problems it finds. You can verify links to local HTML files, graphics and other media files and other Web sites. By default, all links in a selection are checked, but you can optionally skip specific links. Tags in comments are not evaluated.

Note that you cannot use the link checker to verify links to secure pages (HTTPS) FTP links, or mailto links.

Tip

If Linkbot 5.0 or higher is detected on your system, you can use the Tools > Verify Links with Linkbot or Tools > Verify Project with Linkbot commands.

To verify links in the current document:

Click the Verify Links toolbutton or select Tools > Verify Links to start.

The Links panel of the Results window opens and lists the following:

Source -- The current document name proceeded by an icon identifying the link as a document or media file.
Link -- The link as referenced in the document. Links set with the ANCHOR tag's NAME attribute are included.
Full URL -- The path or IP address of the link.
Status -- Initially set to "Untested."

Each link is checked in order. The Status column displays OK for successful links and returns a "File not found" message or the server-generated code and message for failed links.

Click the Stop button during the link test if you need to end the test before it completes.

Link verification options:

Select a link in the list and click the Set Full URL toolbutton to change the URL or the local directory HomeSite should use to process the relative link. Entries that you make in this dialog box are stored in the drop-down list for future use. Setting the root URL does not modify the source document, it tells HomeSite how to test relative links.
Click the Set Timeout toolbutton to enter a time value after which the tester moves to the next link in the list.
Click the Set Proxy toolbutton and enter a server name and port number if the link is routed through a proxy server.
Click the Print button to produce a report of failed links. The report displays in your default browser. You can publish the report, e-mail it, or print it from the browser.
Right-click a link in the list to verify a single link or to select additional options. Click the Stop button to cancel a link verification.

To verify links in a project:

Right-click a project name in the Projects panel of the Resource window and select Verify Links.

In the Verify Links in Project dialog box, select a root URL option for the project files.

(Optional) Set a timeout value for the processing of each link.

Click OK to run the verification routine.

The Results appear in the Links panel.

Note

To prevent slow execution of project link verification and extended search and replace operations caused by parsing large binary files such as exe, pdf, zip, and media file types, a list of excluded file extensions is installed in the Windows Registry LinkVerifyExcludeExts key.

Using HomeSite
Chapter 9 Testing and Maintaining Web Pages