We've all seen hyperlinks in email and on web pages that we visit.  A hyperlink is a text phrase or image that takes a visitor from Point A to Point B.

Simple instructions:  Go to point B - this is your desired destination.  Copy the URL from the address bar of your browser.  Paste it into the TCO Editor. If your desired destination is a PDF that you uploaded to the Document Library, go there first and select / copy the URL.

When you paste a web site or document URL in TennisConnect we will automatically make it "click able" so that it will act as a hyperlink.

Creating a hyperlink this way is messy however.  Your visitor sees the whole "fully qualified" URL which can be long, pushing the page or column width and ruining the layout of your web site.  In group email this situation is further complicated by certain email clients that will "break" the long address when they word wrap the line to fit your customers browser (especially hotmail and gmail).

Better practices
Embed your hyperlinks
Rather than paste a URL, embed the URL on a phrase or an image.  This allows you to control the look and presentation of the click able link.  Something like click here to see the schedule. (is much more professional than click here: http://www.growingtennistraining.com/pages/index.cfm?siteid=4126)

To embed a hyperlink, type the phrase that you want (something like "click here") and highlight it.  Or if you want to use an image, upload / insert the image and click it to "select it", then:

Click on the "insert / edit hyperlink" icon on the tool bar

*Note, the insert / edit hyperlink icon will not be illuminated (it will be grayed out) unless you have first highlighted the text or selected the image where you would like to place the hyperlink)

If you do not see the following pop up dialogue box, check your pop-up blocker and "always allow pop ups from this web site".

 

• The link type will almost always be a URL
• Protocol will almost always be HTTP, unless you are directing your visitor to an HTTPS secure payments page
• The URL is the address that you want your visitor to land on when they click your hyperlink

TIP:  When creating a link you will need to know the URL that you want to go to.  Open a new browser window and navigate to the "landing" address that you want, and copy it first, so that you can simply paste it when you get this far.

Note: If you are making a hyperlink to an email address, use the "Mail to" protocol and you will see you can control the default subject line which is helpful for identifying the source of incoming mail (i.e. subject= Inquiry from our web site)

Best Practices
When you embed a hyperlink you also control "how" that new page or document is opened.  If you are taking your visitor off your web site, or to a PDF document, you should have the hyperlink open in a new browser window (so you do not "lose" your visitor).

Target: New window
To have a hyperlink open in a new instance of the browser, choose the Target tab from the top row of the dialogue box:

• We have pre-populated common commands for you, such as new Window, Pop up Window, etc.
• To force your visitor's browser to open this address in a new window, simply choose New Window and click OK.
• Example: Click here to see this page open in a new window

Target: Pop up window
Sometimes you will want to open a new window and control the size of the window.  This is helpful for links that open movies, slide shows, surveys, etc....

To create a pop up window, choose "Pop-up Window" under the target.  You will receive a new set of options:

• You must name your pop-up window (no spaces).  I named this one newpopup.
• Usually on a popup window you just want to display the content, not showing the browser toolbars, address bar, etc.  The only recommended option to turn "on" is to enable scroll bars.
• You control the width and the height of the pop-up window (in pixels, 120 pixels is about an inch on most monitors).
• The Left and Top positions are the number of pixels in from the left hand border and down from the top border of the visitors monitor.
• Example: click here to open this article in a pop-up window.

Special considerations for TennisLink and Group Email
You can save your visitors considerable time by navigating down to a specific tournament or league / team ID page in TennisLink and then placing the hyperlink on your web site that takes your visitor "straight to" the desired page on TennisLink.

When inserting hyperlinks in Group email it is especially important to embed them so that the links do not "break" in a variety of client email systems.

To achieve the effect to "file attachments" in group email, upload your attachment using the Document Library, copy the URL to the file, and simply paste it in the URL field as described above.

Related:
Creating and uploading printable documents to your web site
Navigation links to open a unique page or document