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Web Standards Guide

 
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Links

Link text needs to be distinguishable from surrounding text. It should be scanable, meaningful, specific, and brief. Avoid generic instructions, such as "click here" and "more."

If a link does anything other than go to another webpage—such as linking to a file or launching an external player—make sure there is some indication to the user as to what will happen. Provide text or a graphic next to the link to indicate the format. Or, use the HTML title tag so information will display on a mouse over.

The link style is controlled by the CSS. Authors should not change color or style of links.

Use Root-Relative Links

When linking within the GSB site, you should normally use root-relative links to:

  • Pages within your site
  • Pages within the GSB-maintained site

A root-relative link:

  • Always begins with the slash character: "/"
  • Does NOT include the server address (e.g. www.gsb.stanford.edu)
  • Contains the entire path to the page—a series of folders from the "top" level of the web server

Example: for a root-relative link to the page
http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/cgbe/globalviews/

You would use the path
 /cgbe/globalviews/

Advantages of Root-Relative Links

The advantages of using root relative links are:

  • They are simple to write and understand.
  • The consistency in the paths make them relatively easy to update if you reorganize your site.

Policy for Target Window

When a user clicks on a link and the page opens in a new browser window this is known as a "target" window. The consensus among the usability community is that you should not use a target window because it often obscures the main window and causes confusion when the 'Back' button no longer works as the user might expect.

  • Do not use a target window for links to page URLs.
  • Do use a target window for links to uploaded documents (PDFs, Word documents, and other MS Office files).

This policy is consistent with both Stanford University and MyGSB websites.