Dreamweaver CS6: The Missing Manual

Linking Within a Web Page

Clicking a link usually loads a web page into the browser window. However, what if you want to link not only to a web page but to a specific spot on that page? You’ll see this frequently on long web pages, where links at the top of the page let visitors jump down to specific content lower on the page; see Figure 4-10 for an example. You can create in-page links two ways: by using a named-anchor or by adding an ID to the target section. The named-anchor method has been around since the earliest days of the Web; it uses a special type of link. With the ID technique, you give the destination spot a unique ID and then link to that ID. Although this method is newer, it works with all current web browsers. You’ll learn about both methods below.

Method 1: Creating a Named Anchor

Creating a Named Anchor link is a two-step process: First you add an anchor to a spot on a page and name it, thus identifying the destination for the link; then you add a link that goes to that named anchor. For instance, in the Table of Contents example shown in Figure 4-10, you’d add a Named Anchor at the beginning of each chapter section.

To create a named anchor:

1. In the document window, click the spot where you want your visitors to end up.

   You want to add a Named Anchor here.

2. Insert a Named Anchor.

   You can do so using any of three methods: Choose Insert→Named Anchor, press Ctrl+Alt+A (⌘-Option-A), or, from the Insert toolbar, select the Common category and click the Named Anchor icon (see ...