HTML and CSS Reference
In-Depth Information
PAGE LINKS
h e
a
element in HTML5, as well as in previous versions of HTML, is one of the key elements
in the language. Its primary use is to serve as a means to load a page using the
href
attribute.
Without the
href
attribute, the
<a>
tag can serve as a placeholder, but for all intents and
purposes, the
a
element is really a combination of the element and the attribute. h at's why
we tend to think in terms of
a href
or an
<a href>
tag rather than just the
a
element by
itself. h is section examines the nuances of the
a
element with the focus on the
href
attribute, but the i rst topic is using the
rel
attribute with the
a
element.
MORE OF THE REL ATTRIBUTE
h e
rel
attribute is related to more than just the
link
element, and while most of the
rel
values assigned to
link
also apply to the
a
and
area
elements, only a subset is examined
here. h e full list of applicable values for the
rel
attribute in the
a
element include the
following:
alternate
archives
author
bookmark
external
first
help
index
last
license
next
nofollow
noreferrer
prev
search
sidebar
tag
up
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Of these, several are for organizing navigation, and these will be discussed more in Chapter 8.
For example,
index
,
first
,
last
,
prev
,
and
next
(among others) all refer to navigation
order. I'm introducing them here so that when navigation in a larger context is discussed in
Chapter 8, you'll be familiar with the concepts. Other values assigned to the
rel
attribute in
the
a
element context have more to do with identifying certain characteristics, such as the
link's author or a help link, and I discuss them i rst.
