The Link feature provides the user with the ability to link some parts of content to other web resources or other parts of the same content. This feature inserts a new link with a specified text or transforms the selected, previously existing text into a link.
UI / UX
- UI: A feature providing the user with a way to set up properties for the new link, usually represented as a button with the “Link” icon that opens a dialog window with form fields to edit the link properties
- Title: “Link”
- Keystroke: Ctrl+K
HTML Markup
The <a> element MUST be used to represent the Link feature as it is the standard way to express links in HTML[1].
The link element MUST have at least the [href] attribute whose value is a valid URL[2].
The link element MAY have other attributes defined for the HTML <a> element, such as target, download, rel or hreflang[1].
Example:
<a href="http://ckeditor.com">CKEditor</a> is an online rich text editor.
Implementation Concerns
- In offline text editors, such as Microsoft Word or LibreOffice Writer, a keystroke for inserting a link is Ctrl+K and this keystroke is a de facto standard for inserting links. However it should be noted that this keystroke is reserved in web browsers and reassigning it may cause issues with user experience[3].
References
- The
<a> element definition in the HTML5 standard.
- The definition of a valid URL in the HTML5 standard.
- A message about the Ctrl+K keystroke in browsers in a discussion about a keystroke for inserting links in GMail.