Making links and using effective link text is an essential part of editing web pages for your department.
The process is extremely similar to hyperlinking items, like we do every day in documents and in emails.
Using good link text not only makes your page more accessible to all users, but also tells a user exactly where they will land if they choose to click.
Links can go to external pages (not augusta.edu), internal pages (augusta.edu), documents (PDFs). They can also generate an email to a specific email address of your choice (mailto).
The majority of the time you can initiate the linking process by highlighting your text and clicking the chain icon on the toolbar.
Note: instead of a URL, when you link to an internal page or internal document, you will see a unique identifier for the link in the URL field. This is known as a dependency tag. Dependency tags make it possible for pages, links, and/or directories maintained within OU Campus to be updated automatically when that page or directory is moved or renamed.
1. Highlight your link text.
2. Click the chain icon.
3. Ensure the external page is functioning by navigating to it.
4. Copy the URL.
5. Paste the URL into the URL field.
6. Click Save.
2. Click the chain icon.
3. Click the button to the right of the URL field.
4. Find and select the file to which you are linking.
5. Click Insert.
6. Click Save.
2. Click the chain icon.
3. Click the button to the right of the URL field.
4. Click the documents folder.
5. Find and select the document file to which you are linking.
6. Click Insert.
7. Click Save.
If you are linking to a document via Box, follow the External link steps.
Using Box files makes updating document versions easy, conserves server space, and allows for various sharing settings.
For a tutorial on how to use Box, check out IT's resources.
Links that are in the grey sidebar or across the top in the horizontal menu are edited using the _nav.inc file.
1. Check out the _nav.inc file. (This file edits the menu on every page in the current directory)
2. Only add bullet points with linked text: Parent points are either linked with internal/external/PDF links or the # to create subpoints.
3. Use enter and tab to create new bullet points. Highlight your link text and follow steps for linking text.
4. Click Insert.
5. Click Save.
6. Publish the _nav.inc file.
Anchor links allow you to control where a user lands on a page after they click. For example, we have used page anchors to allow you to jump from each snippet tile link to its tutorial.
1. To create an anchor, put the cursor in front of the area you want to link to, and click the anchor shaped icon in the top toolbar.
2. In the pop-up box, type a name for the anchor. This should ideally be one word, and follow standard naming conventions. Anchor names should not be duplicated - each anchor should have a different name.
3. Once the anchor is named, click "OK". A small anchor symbol will appear in edit mode. This symbol will disappear once the page is saved and published.
4. To link to an anchor, highlight the text you want the user to click on to jump to your anchor point.
5. Then, type a number sign and the anchor name in the URL bar (if on the same page) or after the URL (if on a different page).
6. Click Save. Then, Save and Publish the page.
