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<LINK> - Document Relationships

This element defines relationships between this document and another file. The tag appears in the document head, not the body, and is not rendered as part of the page. <LINK> is also used to link auxilary files to the HTML document--external style sheets and scripts, for example. <LINK> can also be used to provide other versions in different formats, in different languages, or for different media. Some browsers, notably Lynx and Mosaic, create tool bars based on the document's <LINK> elements.

It is illegal to close this tag. </LINK> does not exist.

Attributes for <LINK>

  %coreattrs %i18n %events

Structural Attributes

  href= [CS]
Gives location.
This attribute gives the location of the linked document.
  charset= [CI]
Gives the character encoding type.
This attribute tells the browser what character encoding the linked document uses.
  hreflang= [CI]
Gives language code.
This attribute tells the browser what language the linked document is written in. (Human language.)
  type= [CI]
Gives file type.
This attribute tells the browser what type of file is linked. A few examples: "text/html", "text/javascript", "text/css"
  rel= [CI]
Gives a space separated list of link types (or just one).
This attribute defines forward link types, expressing the relationship of this document to the linked one.
  rev= [CI]
Gives a space separated list of link types (or just one).
This attribute defines reverse link types, expressing the relationship of the linked document to this one. That would be the same value as rel on a link from the destination document back to this one.
  media= [CI]
Gives a comma separated list of media types.
This attribute tells the browser what sort of media the linked document is for so that it doesn't retrieve files it can't use. For instance, a graphical browser application won't need to retrieve files intended for a braille browser.

Samples:

You can link to a stylesheet: <LINK href="styles.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" media="screen">
Or to a translated version of the page: <LINK href="JP/index.html" type="text/html" hreflang="ja-JP" charset="ISO-2022-JP" rel="alternate">

Here's a link that would appear at the top of this page: <LINK href="index.html" type="text/html" hreflang="en" media="all" rel="contents" rev="section">
It gives the following information:

Code Meaning
Attribute Value
href index.html The destination anchor is a file located in the same folder as this one and is named "index.html".
type text/html "index.html" is an HTML document.
hreflang en "index.html" is written mainly in English.
media all "index.html" is written for all media types.
rel contents "index.html" is the table of contents for this collection of documents.
rev section This document ("link.html") is a section of the collection including "index.html".

Related Topics

Link Types

Alternate
Indicates an alternate version of the current document (such as in a different language or for a different medium).
Stylesheet
Indicates an external style sheet. Can be used with "alternate" for an "alternate stylesheet."
Script
Indicates an external script. Not all browsers support this; I know I have had trouble with MSIE, and had to resort to the <SCRIPT> element instead. (For those of you about to defend Microsoft's browser, I have version THREE! So don't explain that it works fine in 5.0 or whatever.)
Start
Indicates the first document in a series, of which the current document is a part.
Next
Indicates the next document in the series.
Prev
Indicates the previous document the series.
Contents
Indicates a table of contents for the current document or collection of documents.
Index
Indicates an index for the current document or collection of documents.
Glossary
Indicates a glossary for terms used in the current document or collection of documents.
Copyright
Indicates a copyright statement for the current document or collection of documents.
Chapter
Indicates a chapter in the current document or collection of documents. (Can be used, for instance, in the table of contents.)
Section
Indicates a section in the current document or collection of documents.
Subsection
Indicates a section in the current document or collection of documents.
Appendix
Indicates an appendix to the current document or collection of documents.
Help
Indicates a help section.
Bookmark
Indicates a bookmark, which is "a key entry point within an extended document."

You can also define your own link types by using a meta data profile. I have no idea what a profile is, so here the specification entry: HTML 4.0 - Meta Data Profiles It's in the section on the META tag, so there will be references to that tag and its attributes.

Media Types

screen
For non-paged computer screens
tty
For media such as teletypes and terminals, with limited displays using fixed-width font.
tv
For television-type media (low resolution, color)
projection
For projectors
handheld
For handheld devices (small screen, monochrome, bitmapped graphics, limited bandwidth). A Palm Pilot would probably fit here.
print
For paged media (printed materials, print preview).
braille
For braille devices (tactile).
aural
For speech browsers.
all
For all media.

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