Very often in the modern network you can find the slang expression “link”. It can be used in any context, for example, “give a link” or “broken link”. That such a link will be discussed in the article.
The origin of the word and its definition
The word comes from the English link - “connect”, “connect”. In the simplest case, it means an ordinary link that contains the address of a site or section of a web page. A more precise definition for a link on the Internet is a hyperlink.
It can be added to almost any element of the site. Buttons, switches, pictures, words in the text - all this may contain a hyperlink. The fact that an element refers to another object can be judged by how the mouse cursor behaves over it. If he turned into a hand with his index finger, then there is a link.
Of course, this appearance is used by default. However, some sites may modify it at their discretion. This approach is rarely used and was relevant at the dawn of development, when many only mastered the capabilities of html, adding more and more decorations to their website.
What does the link consist of?
Typically, a link is not just a piece of code, but a browser-friendly, ordered and structured set of commands, keywords and addresses. A typical link looks like this: http://www.site.ru/catalog/index.html.
In this example, the first part is the access protocol. It uses http, which means the hypertext transfer method. This protocol is the basic for the exchange of data between the browser and the server. Its extension - https - means that the connection over it is protected by encryption.
To transfer data to the server, the ftp protocol type can also be used . It was precisely for this that it was created. It is used mainly for uploading files to a remote server. The link may look something like this: ftp://www.site.ru/catalog/index.html.
After ftp: // comes the name of the site. For example, mail.ru, google.ru. The following is a section of the site, which, in fact, can represent a real existing directory on the server. The last item may be a specific page address. In this case, index.html. It is on it that all the necessary code for display is placed, which is understandable to the browser. On many sites, links can be generated automatically by content management systems. Therefore, the last part may not be displayed.
What is a link on one site
Links or links may be internal. For example, they are used to navigate sections. As a rule, such a link is relative and may not have parts with the protocol and name. For example: /catalog/index.html. This means that the browser needs to look for the index.html file in the catalog directory, the root folder of the site.
Any menu of the site in which the sections are located have internal links to go to them.
What are mail links?
The mail link is created so that when you click on it, a special program for working with messages automatically opens. After its launch, the address specified in the link will be substituted into the “to whom” field. It looks, in most cases, like this: mymail@mail.ru. That is, in fact, just an email address. Link conversion, services are performed automatically by adding the word "mailto:" to the code.
Or you can do this manually in the html page: <a href = "mailto: mymail@mail.ru">. You can add any phrase </ a > here. Thus, it turns out that a mail link will be placed under the expression. This is done soon for aesthetics. For example, you can write on your site “Send me an email” and insert your email address under this text.
Conclusion
The article examined what a link is and provides several examples of it. However, the link is often used in other areas related to the Internet. Networkers can also use it, giving it the significance of the existence of a connection. For example: “there is a link”, which means the connection is available.
Therefore, it is rather a slang word, and it is more appropriate to use the term “link” instead.