How do I “spell” links so they work correctly?
URLs (Universal Resource Locators) are to resources on the web what a physical mailing address is to some mailbox you want to find in the real world. That's why they are sometimes referred to as "addresses." A full discussion of the format of links is beyond the scope of this document, but here is what you will need to know to correctly add links to your buttons in SiteGrinder:
A "link" is just a URL that a browser will open when you click on a text or graphic button with which that URL is associated.
SiteGrinder can figure out by itself which of your buttons have links to pages that you are building in SiteGrinder, and thus it figures out those URLs by itself.
If you wish to link to a web page within some other website, a page that you have created already, or some other type of web resource, you will need to tell SiteGrinder explicitly what the URL is. You do this by creating text layers with the "-link" or "-links" hints or else adding links using the "Buttons" pane of the SiteGrinder user interface.
With the exception of SiteGrinder shorthand for email and web pages, SiteGrinder just includes whatever you type as a URL. As long as you spell them correctly you can provide a link to anything.
For email and www links SiteGrinder allows easier-to-read and easier-to-type spellings.
Here are examples of the primary link types and how to specify them:
Links to web pages (http://www.somewebsite.com)
These are the most common links found on web pages. They are links to other web pages. SiteGrinder allows you to specify these using the complete form, as in http://www.medialab.com, or in shorter form without the "http://", as in "www.medialab.com".
Subdirectories and files can be specified at the end of either form, as in www.medialab.com/products/sitegrinder.html
Some web pages need extra information when you first access them. This information can be included in a URL in the form of "arguments" usually by adding a question mark and the arguments to the end of the URL.
SiteGrinder supports this style of URL without a problem, but you are responsible for spelling the link correctly and in these cases you must include the "http://". . Here is an example of a web page URL with arguments "http://www.fancy_database.com/main.html?pMode=View&pproSKU=8000"
Email links (help@medialab.com)
Email links allow you provide a link that will open the user's email software on their computer when they click it. You can even provide a default subject line.
Full email address URLs include "mailto:" at the front, but SiteGrinder adds this automatically. It is best to enter email links exactly as you would enter them in the address line of an email, i.e. "help@medialab.com".
NOTE: Placing an email link on a web page will virtually guarantee you begin to receive spam. Email "marketers" use special software to gather email addresses found on web pages.
FTP Download links
There are many different ways to allow users to download files from a the web. FTP (file transfer protocol) is one of the most common.
FTP links are supported, but have no shorthand. FTP links for ftp sites that allow anonymous access usually look like this: "ftp://ftp.medialab.com/sitegrinderdemo.zip".
If you need to provide a username and password in an ftp link you do it like this: "ftp://username:password@ftp.tonsofiles.com/".
For example if the username is "wdisney" and the password is "mickey", the ftp address might look like this "ftp://wdisney:mickey@ftp.frozenbodies.com/hibernation.zip".
Empty Links
Sometimes you may wish to add an empty link to text or a button. You may want to add the link later or in another package. In this case simply provide the "#" character as your link.