Hyperlink Best Practices
Knowing how to format a link, how to link to internal and external sites and how to link to documents will help make your site easy to use.
Hyperlinks are foundational to website functionality. When linking to websites, documents, videos or an email correspondence, it鈥檚 important to format your links appropriately. When adding hyperlinks to your website, follow these best practices.
On this Page:
Effective Link Text
As a best practice, link text should be as specific as possible.
Avoid link text with the full URL text, or using the term 鈥渃lick here.鈥� It makes your page difficult to scan.
Instead, hyperlink the page or document title or link a short description of the page or document.
Be clear about what a visitor can expect when they click a link. For example, a link to learn more about a specific program or initiative should not send a visitor to a contact form.
Examples of What to Do
- For more information, visit Undergraduate Admissions.
- 罢鲍鈥檚 top-ranked graduate programs respond to the emerging work force needs of the region and the nation 鈥� from cybersecurity to health care.
Examples of What Not to Do
- To learn more about Undergraduate Admissions, click here.
- 罢鲍鈥檚 top-ranked graduate programs, /about/rankings.html, respond to the emerging work force needs of the region and the nation 鈥� from cybersecurity to health care.
Internal Linking
Dependency Tags
Whenever you create a hyperlink to a page or document on the TU website, you should use dependency tags. A dependency tag is a code identifier that associates a given hyperlink to a page or document.
Using a dependency tag:
- assures your hyperlink will work even if the structure of your website changes.
- helps us manage page and document deletions by creating a notification for system administrators informing them of all the links that will be impacted by the deletion
Finding a Dependency Tag Quickly
There are a few ways you can find dependency tags, but we recommend the following as it is the fastest option.
1. Open the insert/edit link box
You can add a link to text by highlighting the text and clicking the "insert/edit link" symbol on the navigation bar. A keyboard shortcut is to press CRTL + K or CMD + K to open the insert/edit link box.
2. Copy the page URL that you want to link to
In another window or tab, open the page you would like to link to. Then copy the whole URL.
3. Paste the URL
Paste the URL into the "URL" field in the insert/edit link box.
4.a Find the dependency tag (for a non-homepage)
Click the icon with the arrow pointing up in the box right next to where you pasted the link. Remember to switch from staging to production. The CMS will find the dependency tag for you automatically.
4.b Find the dependency tag (for a homepage)
If you are linking a homepage/index (any page with subpages) you must type index.html at the end of the URL before clicking the arrow icon. OR you can select "index" from the list of pages that appear after clicking the arrow icon. Remember to switch from staging to production.
5. Insert the dependency tag
Click "insert." You should now see the dependency tag in the URL field. Keep the link set to open in the current window. Press "save."
Linking to External Content
Open External Links in a New Tab
External websites are those websites not built within the Towson University domain (www.towson.edu).
To keep our audience on our site, set all external site links to open in a new browser tab.
External links include links to external websites, videos, PDFs and other documents. When adding an external link, make sure you set the 鈥渢arget鈥� for the link in the 鈥淚nsert Link鈥� pop-up window to open in a new window.
Do Make the Link Open in a New Tab
- Find out how to Preview Your Site as a Mobile Website (PDF).
Don't Make the Link Open in the Same Window
- Find out how to Preview Your Site as a Mobile Website (PDF).
Label Documents and Videos
Add a description (as part of the link name) in a parenthesis after the link title. This will make it clear to your audience that they are being taken to a document (or external video link) rather than being taken to a webpage.
Examples of What to Do
- View more videos from the documentary, .
- For more information see Resizing In-Content Images (PDF).
Examples of What Not to Do
- View more videos from the documentary, .
- For more information see Resizing In-Content Images.
Adding Email Links
When adding an email link, add the link after the name of an individual contact. This makes clear both the email address and the name of the contact.
Example of What to Do
- For items relating to content strategy, contact Digital Strategy, digitalstrategy AT_TOWSON.
Example of What Not to Do
- For items relating to content strategy, contact Digital Strategy.