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Links Tab

This is where you can view the links contained in a document and check them for validity.

How to View the Links

A document must first be validated before the links will be displayed. This is because HTML Validator compiles the list of links during validation. If the validation is terminated early due to too many errors or warnings, all the links contained in the document may not be listed. Note that if you are using an old configuration (pre v4.0), a list of links may not be compiled because the configuration that is being used must support this feature.

Base URL

If a relative link is used in the document, HTML Validator will try to calculate its absolute URL. In order to do this, HTML Validator needs a base URL from which to compute the absolute URL. The base URL is obtained by the following:

If the validated document has a filename or URL but not a "base href" attribute, then the full path to the filename or URL is used.
If the document contains a "base href" attribute, then the value of the "href" attribute is used. "base href" has the highest priority when finding a base URL.
If HTML Validator cannot obtain a base, it will not be able to compute absolute URLs for relative paths.

To change the base URL used to calculate absolute URLs for relative URLs, add a "base" tag in the "head" section of the document that contains an "href" attribute with the base. Example:

After the "base" tag is added, revalidate the document to recompile and display the list of links.

Checking Links

To check the links to make sure that they exist and are valid, press the Check Links button (this button looks like a "play" button and is a triangle pointing to the right). NOTE: CSE HTML Validator will only check local file or HTTP links. HTML Validator does not currently support HTTPS or FTP link checking.

CSE HTML Validator Professional v4.50's integrated editor supports automatic link checking if this feature is enabled. This will cause HTML Validator to automatically check the links of any documents that are validated without having to press the Check Links button.

By checking multiple links at a time and using a link cache, HTML Validator will efficiently check the links in the background so that you may continue to work. When the link check is completely finished, the results will be available and displayed if the Links tab is selected. If the Links tab is not selected, selecting the Links tab after a link check will display the most current link check results.

To abort a link check that is currently in progress, press the Stop Checking Links button in the Links tab. (this button looks like a "stop" button and is a square). Any links that are currently being checked will be checked, but no more unchecked links will be checked, so it may take a few seconds (or even a minute or two) for all link checking to stop after pressing this button.

If one or more of the links is redirected, HTML Validator (v4.05 and above) will tell you in the link status. This means that the server redirected the request to another URL or location. You should normally change your link so that it is not redirected, except in certain circumstances when you want the redirection. To do this, find out what location the server is redirecting the URL to (check the comment column which will appear for redirected links) and change the URL so that it points directly to the redirected location. A common reason for a redirected URL is when linking to a directory. For example, to link to the directory "http://www.htmlvalidator.com/htmlval/", the link should be to "http://www.htmlvalidator.com/htmlval/" and not to "http://www.htmlvalidator.com/htmlval". Note the missing forward slash on the end of the incorrect link. A missing slash on a directory link will normally cause the HTTP server to send a redirect to the correct URL. Another side effect of having a redirect is that it is slightly slower because of the extra overhead. The solution is to make sure that all directory links end in a slash.

NOTE: CSE HTML Validator makes "HEAD" requests to web servers in order to verify links. Some valid links may return error codes because the web server may behave differently or incorrectly for "HEAD" requests than for more common "GET" and "POST" requests. HTML Validator simply reports the error and status code that is returned by the web server. Therefore, if HTML Validator reports an error for a valid link, then it is probably because the web server is reporting the error and not because of a bug in HTML Validator.

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