MACROMEDIA 38028779 - Macromedia Dreamweaver - Mac, Using Manual, Page: 354 / 582

Chapter 15 354
About document locations and paths
Understanding the file path between the document you’re linking from and the
document you’re linking to is essential to creating links.
Each Web page has a unique address, called a Uniform Resource Locator (URL).
(For detailed information on URLs, see the World Wide Web Consortium page
on naming and addressing.) However, when you create a local link (a link from
one document to another on the same site), you generally don’t specify the entire
URL of the document you’re linking to; instead, you specify a relative path from
the current document or from the site’s root folder. The following are the three
types of link paths:
•
Absolute paths (such as http://www.macromedia.com/support/dreamweaver/
contents.html).
•
Document-relative paths (such as dreamweaver/contents.html).
•
Root-relative paths (such as /support/dreamweaver/contents.html).
Using Dreamweaver, you can easily select the type of document path to create for
your links. See “Linking documents using the Property inspector and the Point-
to-File icon” on page 359.
Note: It is best to use the type of linking you prefer and are most comfortable with, either
site or document relative. Browsing to links, as opposed to typing in the paths, ensures that
you always enter the right path.
Absolute paths
Absolute paths provide the complete URL of the linked document, including
the protocol to use (usually http:// for Web pages). For example, http://
www.macromedia.com/support/dreamweaver/contents.html is an absolute path.
You must use an absolute path to link to a document on another server. You can
also use absolute-path links for local links (to documents in the same site), but
that approach is discouraged; if you move the site to another domain, all of your
local absolute-path links will break. Also, using relative paths for local links
provides greater flexibility if you need to move files within your site.
Note: When inserting images (not links): if you use an absolute path to an image that
resides on a remote server and is not available on the local hard drive, you will not be able to
view the image in your document window. Instead, you must preview the document in a
browser to see it. If possible, use document or root-relative paths for images. For more
information, see “Inserting an image” on page 268.