Dynamic HTML: The Definitive Reference

Name

HREF — NN all IE all HTML 3.2

Synopsis

HREF=”URI"

Required

The URI of the destination of a link associated with the area. In a browser, when the URI is an HTML document, the document is loaded into the current (default) or other window target (as defined by the TARGET attribute). For some other file types, the browser may load the destination content into a plugin or save the destination file on the client machine. Because Navigator (through Version 4) treats AREA elements as A elements, the HREF attribute must be defined in the AREA element for Navigator scripts to access various properties about the URL and for event handlers (such as onMouseOver) to work.

Example

<AREA COORDS="20,30,120,70" HREF="contents.html" TARGET="display">

Value

Any valid URI, including complete and relative URLs, anchors on the same page (anchor names prefaced with the # symbol), and the javascript: pseudo-URL in scriptable browsers to trigger a script statement rather than navigate to a destination.

Default

None.

Object Model Reference

IE

[window.]document.links[i].href

[window.]document.all.elementID.href

NN

[window.]document.links[i].href

In both browsers, other link object properties allow for the extraction of components of the URL, such as protocol and hostname. See the Link object in Chapter 9.