Hyperlinks

In most HTML tools, you create a hyperlink by selecting a range of text or an image and then entering the URL into a field. QuarkXPress does things a little differently.

QuarkXpress pal hyperlinks Hyperlinks

The Hyperlinks palette


Destinations

A destination is a “container” for a particular URL. Just as a QuarkXPress project can contain lists of colors and style sheets, it can contain a list of destinations. Each destination contains one of the following types of URL:

  • URL: Points to a particular resource on the Web.
  • Page: Points to a particular page in the same layout.
  • Anchor: Points to a particular part of a page in the layout.
Note: Although the user interface differentiates between URLs, pages, and anchors, the actual link included in the exported HTML file is always a URL.

Just like colors and style sheets, each destination has a name. You can give any name you want to a destination. For example, if you have a destination for the URL http://www.quark.com, you could name it “Quark Web Site.”

Just as you can see a list of a project’s colors in the Colors palette, you can see the list of a project’s destinations in the Hyperlinks palette. And just as you can apply a color from the Colors palette, you can “apply” a destination to the selected text or item by clicking that hyperlink in the Hyperlinks palette.

You can edit your list of destinations in the Hyperlinks dialog box (Edit menu). Note that as with colors, a project’s destination list can contain destinations that are not actually used in the project.

Note: If you prefer to create hyperlinks by selecting something and then entering a URL, you can still do so in QuarkXPress. However, you should be aware that when you do so, you are creating a destination, and that destination will be added to the project’s list of destinations and listed in the Hyperlinks palette.

Anchors

An anchor is simply a marker that you have attached to an object somewhere in the layout. You can attach anchors to the following:

  • A word, character, or string in a raster or HTML text box or in text on a path
  • A picture box
  • A particular area in an image map
  • A particular cell in a table
  • An empty box
  • A line

In QuarkXPress, anchor indicators look like this: QuarkXpress icon anchor anchor Hyperlinks or QuarkXpress icon anchor arrow Hyperlinks.


Targets

You can use targets to control in which window a destination is opened. The available types of targets are as follows:

  • None: The destination should display in the same window as the hyperlink.
  • _blank: The destination should display in a new browser window.
  • _self: The destination should display in the same window as the hyperlink.
  • _parent: The destination should display in the parent window of the page containing the hyperlink.
  • _top: The destination should remove all frames on the page and occupy the entire browser window.
Note: A target is associated with an individual hyperlink (something the end user clicks), rather than with a destination (the URL opened by that click). Consequently, you can’t specify a target if you’re only creating a destination.
Parent topic: Web layouts

Hyperlinks