ptg16476052118 LESSON 6: Working with Links
Q&A
Q My links aren’t being highlighted in blue or purple at all. They’re still just
plain text.
A Is the filename in a name attribute rather than in an href? Did you remember to
close the quotation marks around the filename to which you’re linking? Both of
these errors can prevent links from showing up as links.
Q I put a URL into a link, and it shows up as highlighted in my browser, but
when I click it, the browser says “unable to access page.” If it can’t find the
page, why did it highlight the text?
A The browser highlights text within a link tag whether or not the link is valid. In
fact, you don’t even need to be online for links to show up as highlighted links,
although you can’t get to them. The only way you can tell whether a link is valid is
to select it and try to view the page to which the link points.
As to why the browser couldn’t find the page you linked to—make sure that you’re
connected to the network and that you entered the URL into the link correctly. Also
verify that you have both opening and closing quotation marks around the filename
and that those quotation marks are straight quotes. If your browser prints link des-
tinations in the status bar when you move the mouse cursor over a link, watch that
status bar and see whether the URL that appears is actually the URL you want.
Finally, try opening the URL directly in your browser and see whether that solution
works. If directly opening the link doesn’t work either, there might be several rea-
sons why. The following are two common possibilities:
n The server is overloaded or is not on the Internet.
Machines go down, as do network connections. If a particular URL doesn’t
work for you, perhaps something is wrong with the machine or the network.
Or maybe the site is popular, and too many people are trying to access it
simultaneously. Try again later. If you know the people who run the server,
you can try sending them electronic mail or calling them.
n The URL itself is bad.
Sometimes URLs become invalid. Because a URL is a form of absolute path-
name, if the file to which it refers moves around, or if a machine or directory
name gets changed, the URL won’t be valid anymore. Try contacting the per-
son or site you got the URL from in the first place. See whether that person
has a more recent link.
Be sure to read the error message provided by the browser carefully. Often it will
describe the reason why the link can’t be opened, indicating whether it is a network
problem or a problem with the URL.