There are two types of links:  absolute and relative.

An absolute link is to an existing page on someone else's website. For example, my homepage or Amazon.com or the Library of Congress are NOT part of your own website, so you need to include the entire web address (URL) so the computer can find the page.

To create a link to an existing page on another website:

1. Navigate to the page, highlight the URL in the address bar and copy it (either Edit-Copy on the toolbar or Ctrl-C on the keyboard)
   We recommend this method to be sure the URL is copied correctly--some of them are really long and complicated.
   
   
2. On your webpage, place the cursor where you want the link
3. Click the Link button on the Composer toolbar
   The Link Properties window opens.
   
   
4. In the top Link Text field type the words you want displayed that tell the viewer it's a link (the words that are underlined)
   Ex. "Click here for Library of Congress"
   
   
5. In the Link Location field, use Ctrl-V to paste in the URL of the existing webpage that you copied from the address bar. (Edit-Paste will NOT work)
   Click OK.
   

The link is displayed as underlined text. Click Save and then the Browse button on the toolbar (links do not work with Composer's Preview tab).

Click on your link to test that it goes to the correct page.

A relative link is to one of your own webpages. Since all your pages are together in one place, the browser only needs to look in your "Web folder" for the Filename of the page--it doesn't need the entire Web URL.
Here is a sample webpage you can use for this lesson; do File-Edit Page, then File-SaveAs and save it into your Webpage folder.

To create a link to one of your own webpages:

1. Place the cursor where you want the link.
2. On the Composer toolbar, click the Link button;
   the Link Properties window opens.
   
3. In the top Link Text field type the words you want displayed that tell the viewer it's a link (the words that are underlined)
   Example: LINK to KIDS PAGE.
   a
4. Click the Choose File button.
   The "Maintain Link" feature of Composer keeps track of the file location. Maintain the linkpath by keeping ALL webpages and images in the SAME FOLDER.
   a
   
5. Navigate to your Webpages folder.
   Click on the Filename of the webpage you are linking TO.
6. The filename of the page is displayed in the Link Location field.
   Click OK.

Every webpage should have a way for visitors to contact you.
A special Mailto Link opens an email box with the email address already typed in To: field. 

For example, click here, to open email message box with my email address.

To put an email link on your webpage:

1. Place the cursor where you want the email link.
2. Click the Link button on the toolbar.
3. In the Link Text field type the display text
   For example: Click here to EMAIL me!
   a
4. In the Link Location field, type mailto(all one word), a colon :
and your email address.
a
5. Click OK and Save.
6. Click Browse and check the EMAIL link.

Let's look at another special type of link called an Anchor...