2. Links
Each article and subsite can have its own related articles or external pages. Navigation pages can have cards, catalogs or galleries as well. All such links are specified in the same way.
Internal links are always to an article or category. For a card, the target's heading, introduction and basic aside image are used for the body of the card. For galleries, the targets' basic aside images are used.
External links must always use at least the secure https protocol, unless other protocols/schemes have been defined in the Additional schemes field of the Settings section of the Settings page. For links to other Smallsite Design sites, /-/ at the end of the URL's path will be replaced with the locale, and if there is a current explicit accessibility setting, it will also be included, allowing visitor experience continuity between the sites. Must be before any query or fragment. This also works for inline links.
| # | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Category|… | Shows the current link as a jump to the article's or category's page, as a link for external links. Depending upon the type of links, a site item can be selected or external link text and URL can be provided |
| 2 | ▲ | Move the link up. If already at the top, it moves to the end of the list |
| 3 | ▼ | Move the link down. If already at the bottom, it moves to the top of the list |
| 4 | ✘ | Delete the link by clicking on the ✘, then clicking the now visible ✔ |
If there are more than three links, the table is preceded by a Move by: line with the 1 option selected. If there are more than 10, a 10 option will also be available. Selecting an option other than 1 will make the next move be by the selected number of items, before reverting back to 1.
| # | Type | Max | Scope | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Subsite navigation | 5 | Both | Quick links for significant pages or sites shown in the subsite navigation bar. Per subsite |
| 2 | Cards | 8 | Internal | Only shown at the end of navigation articles |
| 3 | Catalog | 20 | Internal | Only shown at the end of navigation articles |
| 4 | Gallery | 20 | Internal | Only shown at the end of navigation articles |
| 5 | Related articles | 5 | Internal | Shown at the end of the main body of pages, though only those for subsites on category pages |
| 6 | Related sites | 5 | External | Shown at the end of the main body of pages, though only those for subsites on category pages |
| 7 | Subsite links | 3 | Both | Links for utility pages or sites shown in the Subsite links subsection in the Links section at the bottom of pages. Per subsite |
For any page, a maximum of five applies for each of Related articles and Related sites, with those for an article appearing at the top and given preference. For example, if an article has four links, and its subsite has three, the first four links will be for the article's links, with only the first subsite link displayed. If an article or category specified in an article's related link is also in one of its subsite's links, the latter is not shown.
Order△
The ordering of links provides a hint as to the relative importance of the link targets.
For related articles and sites, the ordering is usually for the most directly relevant first. Subsequent links could go to particular or general information, or introduce complementary topics, rather than to more of the directly related topics. Anybody who clicks on the first link is more likely to click on its first related article link after they have read it than return to the original page to go to its second link.
Preferably link to articles instead of categories as they present a definite option rather than having to make a choice among a wider range of options. Try for at least three or four related articles for an article, but only one or two for a subsite. Be very particular about what external pages you link to, as they may be used by your readers to make judgements about you, in the same way you might be judged by who you associate with. They should provide directly relevant information that preferably validates some of the page's content.
Subsite navigation links will typically be for an online store or about page, but also for high-value pages that site visitors will want to go to directly. Subsite links are for lower-value background or ancillary information pages. Cards are prominent signposts to key site content, setting the first to wide if there is a main topic or product to highlight. A catalog is an opportunity to provide a sequence that may cover from the most grounded to the more esoteric. Galleries are for whim-picking from interesting pictures.
External links△
The page targeted by an external link may not be all relevant to an article, but there may be a way of targeting the relevant part of it.
Just like in Smallsite Design, a page in a properly designed website should provide each key element with an id attribute that allows targeting it by appending it to the page's URL preceded by a # as its fragment in the external link. If the page has a link to the relevant section, right click on it, select the Copy link option, then paste that in as the full link URL.
If no menu link, to find the id to use as a URL fragment:
- 1.Press the F12 key when viewing the page in a browser.
The developer tools window will open. - 2.Click the upper-left icon in the menu bar (rectangle with an arrow over it).
The icon will turn blue. - 3.Back at the page in the browser, click on the heading for the relevant section.
The focus in the developer tools window becomes the HTML for the clicked element. - 4.The highlighted element should have an id attribute, but if not, find the nearest ancestor element that does, though sometimes it might be the first child.
Try the fragment in the link to see if it actually works. Sometimes ids are only used internally in a page and linking to them does not visibly show. In that case, search for another in the ancestor tree. Sometimes, there just is none, so the link will have to be to the full page.