Set Links
Basics
To declare a text as a link, select the text you want to link (Learn more about the topic "Link Text") and then click the link icon.
The Link Browser
Now a new window will open (the Link Browser) where you can enter the data relevant to the link.
For All Types of Links the Following Applies:
Target Window: You do not have to enter anything here. External links and links to files are automatically opened in a new window, internal links (links within TYPO3) in the same window.
Link Title: Here you can enter a text that will be visible later via "mouseover" and is relevant for search engine optimization.
But: Link titles are not accessible because, on the one hand, they are not read aloud by screen readers and, on the other hand, they can only be used by people who navigate over the pages using a mouse.
You should therefore include all important information about the link (where does it lead to or what does it open?) in the link text. The link title can be set additionally, but should not contain any information exclusively mentioned there for the reasons mentioned above.
Link Text (linked words)
Screen reader users often get an overview of the page by having the list of headings and the list of links read to them. If all links were described as "More info here", they would get nothing out of it. Therefore, it is enormously important that it is clear from the link text where the link leads, for example, like this: "You can find more information on the homepage of area XY". Link texts should therefore always be meaningful.
There are different types of links and ways of displaying them. These are presented below.
Common Mistakes
Please note the information about setting links to your (old) web presence.
Internal Links
For internal links, you now select the desired page or content element in the page tree. Then you can determine the appearance in the "CSS-Class" field.
The following CSS-Classes are currently selectable for internal links:
Link to a Content Element (Anchor Link)
When you link to a content item on an internal page, the browser jumps to that exact location. This option is particularly useful for very long pages. To link to a content element of an internal page, click the small black-bordered triangle to the left of the page name in the Link Browser. The available content elements are now displayed in the right column. Select the desired element here with a mouse click.
When using anchor links in single-tree appearances, a workaround must be used. You can learn more about this on our topic page.
Only for Single-Tree Appearances: Links Between Two Language Versions
For single-tree appearances, there are two language versions for each page:
- Leading language (e.g. German)
- Translation (e.g. English)
If you set an internal link to a page, it will be opened by default in the language version in which the link was created. Example: If an internal link points to the Contact page on the English version of the Home page, clicking the link opens the English version of the Contact page by default.
It may happen that you want to bypass this default behavior. This may be the case, for example, if there is no English translation for a particular page and you want to link to the contents of the German version of that page. To achieve this, an additional link parameter must be passed to the link, which ensures that the German language version of the page is explicitly opened.
To create such a link, proceed as described above when creating the internal link. However, before you click on the page to be linked in the link browser, enter the appropriate parameter in the "Additional link parameters" input field:
- To make the link display the page in the leading language, append a zero to the parameter and enter "&L=0" in the field (see screenshot "Link parameters leading language").
- To make the link display the page in translation, append a one to the parameter and store it in the "&L=1" field (see the "Translation link parameters" screenshot).
Note: If you edit the link again, the field with the link parameter will appear empty, but it will still be active.
External Links
To link to an external page, do not select the page in the page tree as you would for internal links, but click on the "External URL" tab in the Link Browser. Again, enter a title for the link and select a CSS-Class (default here is "Internal Link"). Now enter the URL of the web page and click on "Set link".
The following CSS-Classes are currently selectable for external links:
External Link Button (Primary)
External Link Button (Deviant)
Link to a File
To link to a file, first upload it in the file list. Then, in the Link Browser, select the "File" tab, select the folder where the file is located in the bottom left of the page tree, and select the file in the right column with one click.
Link to an E-Mail Address
To link an e-mail address so that it opens the default e-mail program of the respective user after the click, select the "E-mail" tab in the link browser, enter the title and the e-mail address there and click "Set link".
There is only one CSS-Class for this type of link.
Good to Know!
Talking links convey to users what content they can expect when they click on them by linking to one or more words. They therefore have advantages for several reasons: Accessibility is ensured, the links are well understood and clicked on more often. Formulations such as "You can find more information about xyz here" with the link to "here" should therefore be avoided at all costs. The linking should be on the words that are appropriate in terms of content ("More information [on xyz]"). Likewise, a complete URL https://www.tu-dortmund.de/datenschutzerklaerung/ is not a speaking link and disturbs the reading flow considerably.
Speaking links also have a positive effect with regard to search engine optimization.
The same applies to the link attribute title. Here you should briefly describe where a link leads ("Overview of consulting services"), to whom you are writing an e-mail ("E-mail to Max Mustermann") or which file you are downloading ("PDF Grundordnung der TU Dortmund"). For reasons of accessibility, it is important to use the same text that was linked. Link titles can only be used via MouseOver and are not read aloud by screen readers. It is therefore important that all relevant information is included in the link text and that no "exclusive information" is written in the title.
The decisive factor is that the aim and purpose of a link must at least be clearly evident from the link text.
More information about search engine optimization.