The cover of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Create a Web Page The Complete Idiot's HTML Tag Reference

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<A>

Creates a link (when used with HREF) or an anchor (when used with NAME).

Support:

HTML StandardInternet ExplorerNetscape Navigator
2.0 and later 1.0 and later 1.0 and later
Notes:
  • Most Web servers are downright finicky when it comes to uppercase and lowercase letters in file and directory names. Therefore, make sure the case you use within this tag exactly matches the case used in the actual file and directory name. For example, if you're linking to a file named "index.html", don't reference the file as "INDEX.HTML or "Index.html".
  • The </A> end tag is required.
Attributes:
ACCESSKEY = "Text (single character)"
A character to use as a keyboard shortcut for selecting the image map area.

Support:

HTML StandardInternet ExplorerNetscape Navigator
4.0 and later Not supported Not supported

Notes:

  • The access key is invoked by using it as a key combination. For example, if you specify ACCESSKEY="P", then the user invokes the key by pressing Alt+P (Windows) or Cmd+P (Mac).

CHARSET = "Text"
The character set used by the linked page.

Support:

HTML StandardInternet ExplorerNetscape Navigator
4.0 and later Not supported Not supported

Notes:

CLASS = "Text"
The style sheet class used by the tag.

Support:

HTML StandardInternet ExplorerNetscape Navigator
4.0 and later 3.0 and later 4.0 and later

Notes:

  • You can specify two or more classes; be sure to separate each class name with a space.

HREF = "Text" (Required)
The file name or full URL of the linked file.

Support:

HTML StandardInternet ExplorerNetscape Navigator
3.0 and later 1.0 and later 1.0 and later

Notes:

  • Insert text or an <IMG> tag between <A HREF> and </A>:

    <A HREF="whatever.html">Link text goes here</A>

HREFLANG = "Text"
The language used by the linked page.

Support:

HTML StandardInternet ExplorerNetscape Navigator
4.0 and later Not supported Not supported

Notes:

ID = "Text"
An alphanumeric string that uniquely identifies the tag.

Support:

HTML StandardInternet ExplorerNetscape Navigator
4.0 and later 3.0 and later 4.0 and later

Notes:

  • Although you can use letters and numbers for the ID, the first character must be a letter.

LANG = "Text"
The language used by the tag's attribute values and text content.

Support:

HTML StandardInternet ExplorerNetscape Navigator
4.0 and later 4.0 and later Not supported

NAME = "Text"
Creates an anchor (also known as a bookmark).

Support:

HTML StandardInternet ExplorerNetscape Navigator
3.0 and later 1.0 and later 1.0 and later

Notes:

  • To link to an anchor, use the <A HREF> tag and place a number sign (#) before the anchor name, like so:

    <A HREF="#MyAnchor">Link to anchor</A>

REL = "Text"
The relationship between the current page and the one specified by the HREF attribute.

Support:

HTML StandardInternet ExplorerNetscape Navigator
2.0 and later Not supported Not supported

Notes:

REV = "Text"
The relationship between the page specified by the HREF attribute and the current page.

Support:

HTML StandardInternet ExplorerNetscape Navigator
2.0 and later Not supported Not supported

Notes:

  • This is the opposite of the REL attribute (and is also currently unsupported).

STYLE = "Text"
The style or styles to use with the tag.

Support:

HTML StandardInternet ExplorerNetscape Navigator
4.0 and later 3.0 and later 4.0 and later

Notes:

  • If you enter multiple style properties, separate each one with a semi-colon (;).

TABINDEX = Positive integer
The area's position with the page's tabbing order.

Support:

HTML StandardInternet ExplorerNetscape Navigator
4.0 and later 4.0 and later Not supported

Notes:

  • The "tabbing order" is the order in which page elements are selected when the user presses the Tab key.

TARGET = "Text"
The name of the frame in which the file should appear.

Support:

HTML StandardInternet ExplorerNetscape Navigator
4.0 and later 3.0 and later 2.0 and later

Notes:

  • HTML recognizes three pre-fab TARGET names:
    _self Loads the new page in the same frame that contains the link.
    _top Loads the new page into the entire window (it breaks out of the frame structure).
    _blank Loads the new page into a new browser window.
    Note that you can also open a page into a new browser window just by using a TARGET value that the browser doesn't recognize.

TITLE = "Text"
The title of the linked resource.

Support:

HTML StandardInternet ExplorerNetscape Navigator
2.0 and later 4.0 and later Not supported

Notes:

  • Internet Explorer 4 displays the TITLE text as a "tooltip" banner that appears above the link when you hover the mouse over the link.

TYPE = "Text"
The content type of the linked resource.

Support:

HTML StandardInternet ExplorerNetscape Navigator
4.0 and later Not supported Not supported

Notes:

Example:
<A HREF="http://www.mcfedries.com/index.html">Link text goes here</A>
How It Looks:
Link text goes here

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