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Internal Links

An Internal Link is used to direct the user to another page within the UNB wiki. These internal links are the most effective way to establish a web of connections throughout the wiki that enhance readers' experience by increasing accessibility of information.

RichTextEditor

Creating an Internal Link with the RichTextEditor is quick and easy, as MediaWiki provides the Contributor with a field to search the entire wiki for the desired destination page/entry. To generate this field, click the Link icon:

Clicking the link icon will generate a new box in which existing pages can be searched - as long as the contributor knows the title of the destination entry/page. Upon inputting the first few characters the desired destination should appear to be selected, establishing a hyperlink on the origin entry/page.

WikiTextEditor

To create an internal link, enclose the title of the destination entry with double square brackets on either side:

• If the destination entry exists and has been entered correctly an operational link will be created.
  • Remember that Mediawiki is case sensitive - the first thing that the contributor should check for if a link does not work is the spelling and capitalization of the destination entry within the WikiTextEditor code.

• If the destination entry does not exist, the hyperlink created will connect to a new page upon which an entry can be created, either immediately or in the future. The practice of creating links to non-existent pages for future creation is called #Lazy_Linking, which can be an effective way to communicate to future contributors the pages that need to be created and the future direction of the wiki.

Linking via Alternate Text

Sometimes the exact title of a page is not ideal to insert into a sentence and an alternate text would better serve the entry/page. Instead, best practice is to present the hyperlink as text that flows within the entry.

RichTextEditor

Using the RichTextEditor, simply write the sentence and highlight the text intended to be presented as hyperlink, and complete the process as outlined in the section above by clicking the link icon and selecting the destination page.

WikiTextEditor

To establish a link using alternate text with the WikiTextEditor, a pipe (or vertical bar)— | —must be placed after the title of the destination entry/page, followed by the desired alternate text and enclosed between double square brackets:

[[Literary and Debating Society|Debating]] has long been a popular extracurricular activity at UNB. 

(Result:) Debating has long been a popular extracurricular activity at UNB.

Lazy Linking

External Links

Linking to Category Pages

Linking to Image Pages

Anchors (Linking to a Specific Place on a Page)

There may be circumstances in which linking to a the top of a page is ineffective, as the reader will then have to read through a body of text or scroll through the page to locate the reference. Linking to a specific place on an entry or page requires the use of an anchor.

• This is particularly relevant for larger pages with a lot of content.
• For these functions the WikiTextEditor is most effective.
• Remember to verify capitalization and spelling of titles when creating links.

1. Some anchors exist naturally within a page. All of the section headers are anchors and can be easily identified by their presence in the Table of Contents at the top of a given page:

2. Some entries may not be effectively broken up by headers, while some sections might be too long for linking to the header to be an effective solution - do not fear! There is a way to manually create an anchor on a page, but the WikiTextEditor must be used: