Web Team

Web Team

Anchor (jump) links

Anchor (or jump) links text at the top of a page to a heading further down the page. This page has anchor links on it not because the page needs anchor links but to show you how they work.

Before you create anchor links there are some things to consider. Anchor links are not always the best they solution they may appear.

There are two parts to an anchor link, the heading to be linked to on the page (becomes the anchor) and the linked text at the top of the page (within the 'on this page' box). You can also add a 'Top' link at the bottom of the page if you want.

Before you create anchor links think about

  • Is your page long enough to need anchor links? See anchor links for long pages (Web Style guide section of this site) for guidelines, including determining if your page is long enough to need anchor links.
  • While anchor links can be useful, they have disadvantages. Eg Contact a person takes you to the lower part of a page in a UC website. Can you tell where you are? Probably not. In usability testing we see people confused when a link takes them from one page to an anchor link on another page (just as the link in this point has done). You need to consider not only how the anchor links within a page function and how anchors might be used to link from other pages
  • Is your page well structured? It might be better to split the page into 2 or more pages and create subnavigation instead (ie a section within your site with navigation at the top of the page to each within the section). See subnavigation in the Web Style guide for how it looks and functions. You need to create your pages but Web Support may need to help set up the subnavigation for you
  • Can your page be edited and unnecessary content deleted?

Create an anchor (jump) on your page

  1. Place your cursor beside the heading on the page you want to 'anchor/jump' to. In this example the cursor is before the 'C' in the heading 'Create an anchor (jump) link on your page'
  2. Go to Menu Bar, click Insert and select Named Anchor (or CTRL+ALT+A)
  3. Enter a name in the Anchor name field (must all be lower case for the anchor link to work 100% of the time)

  • In the example the anchor link is 'create'. Anchor links must be no longer than one word
  • Copy the name you give the anchor
  • Click OK

  • An anchor symbol is now inserted on the page (yellow = unselected, blue = anchor selected

Create the text link at the top of the page

  • Type text for the link you will create in the 'On this page' section at the top of the page. (Text should match the heading it will 'jump' to)

  1. Select this text
  2. In the properties panel, type # and paste the name you copied when you created the anchor. (If you didn't copy the anchor name, click on the anchor next to the heading you want to 'jump' to. The anchor highlights blue when selected and you can see the name in the properties panel. Type the same name next to the # sign
  • Note: no spaces between the # and the name, no upper case, the anchor name and link must match exactly
  • Save and upload your page, check it works in the browser

Back to top link

  1. At the bottom of the page type Top
  2. With Top selected, in the Properties panel select toplink. Top now appears bottom right of the page
  3. Select Top
  4. In the link panel in Properties type #top
  5. Save, upload your page and check it works in the browser

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