HTML uses the <A> </A> tags as anchors for hypertext links. Any text (or graphics) between these tags will operate as a link. In Netscape, linked text is highlighted with a different color and underlining. In addition, the mouse pointer changes from an arrow to a hand when it points to a link, and the link's location is normally displayed at the bottom of the browser screen.

The beginning anchor tag requires one more element when you use it: the name of the link. For example, you might want to create a link to Dickinson College's home page. You first need to know the correct location of this page, which is:

You would then specify the hypertext reference within the anchor tag by using the parameter HREF= followed by the location in double quotes. Here is an example using the Dickinson home page:

     I am currently an English major at
     <A HREF="http://www.dickinson.edu/">Dickinson College</A>,
     where I will graduate in May.<P>

This example would look like this:

If you click on the highlighted text, you will go to the Dickinson home page. Don't forget to use the Back command to return to this guide.

In a nutshell, this is how hypertext links work. You use the anchor tags, with a specified location, around a block of text. The block of text becomes a link. When the person viewing your page clicks on that link, their browser takes them to that location. Like so many things in life, however, it can get much more complicated.