WMS: Links


OVERVIEW

Target audience: Site Administrators, Site Managers, Site Editors

This article provides a reference to different types of links possible in the Web Management System (WMS).

In this article:

announcement

NOTE: this article refers to a process to be used on sites that have already migrated to the New WMS.

If your site has not yet migrated see the Index of documentation for the McGill Web Management System.

Linking to a page or article on the same site

  1. Highlight the text to be linked.
  2. Click the link icon in the toolbar.
  3. In the text box, enter the first few words of the page title.
  4. Select the page from the auto-suggested options.
  5. Click the checkmark icon.
  6. Save. 

Linking to another WMS site or external site

  1. Highlight the text to be linked. 
  2. Click the link icon in the toolbar.
  3. In the text box, enter the full URL.
  4. Select the page from the auto-suggested options.
  5. Click the checkmark icon.
  6. Save. 

Linking from a global block

Standard blocks should follow the page/article instructions above. This process is for blocks with a built-in link (Call to Action, statement, list etc)

  1. In the URL field type the page or item you would like to link to.
  2. In the link text field type the words for the button.
  3. In the text box under URL, enter the first few words of the title (to select) or paste the URL.
  4. Save.

Relative links

Relative links are used to link to pages on your own site. A relative link is a partial URL that points to a page in relation to the current one.

The WMS recognizes that the relative link belongs to the same site, so the “https://www.mcgill.ca/" part of the URL is not required. It is recommended to begin relative links with “/sitename”.

Absolute links

An absolute link includes the whole web address (URL). Absolute links should point to another McGill website or an external site outside of McGill.

Menu link title

We recommend setting the menu link title for each page in your site to keep the URL (and the child page URLs) stable if you choose to change the title of your page. We recommend using a hyphen between words when creating a Menu link title. 

Node IDs

In the WMS, there is a unique identifier for each piece of content on a site called a "node ID." It is possible to create absolute or relative links using the node ID. However, node IDs are not recommended for linking to pages because the URL is not user-friendly or accessible. A link to a node number (e.g., www.mcgill.ca/sitename/node/123 ) doesn’t inform visitors of what to expect, whereas a link that contains a descriptive URL (e.g., www.mcgill.ca/sitename/about ) does.

Blocks, however, will not be automatically placed on the same page when a URL alias changes, so using node IDs is recommended for placing structural elements such as blocks. By referencing the node ID, they stay associated with the node even if the alias changes. Otherwise, the page visibility settings of blocks need to be manually updated if the page where they were set to display was referencing an alias.

When placing a block on a page, begin the path with a “/”, such as "/node/123". If you enter a path without a starting slash you will be prompted to add one.

If you reference the node ID, you need to keep that node published; do not attempt to create a new page in the future to replace the old one, or else the reference will be lost.

To find out the node ID of any page: 

  1. Navigate to the page.
  2. Click the Edit tab, and the node ID will appear in the URL at the top of your browser.

 

references

ADDITIONAL REFERENCES: