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Simple Internal Bookmarks from Menus back to Home Page

Summary

Here is a quick hint how to connect related site pages with another simple set of internal book marks. As I wrote previously in the footnotes method, I have now related menu names to link back to the home page using a small set of descriptive names. This small set of names makes the bookmarking implementation easy.

Site Changes and Internal Bookmarks

Upon the demise of Open Source Today, this site had to be thrown together quickly. However, I already wanted to make several radical alterations to the former, hence, simple copying was not an option. Moreover, many iterations were short lived experiments that failed. What I can show is a few instances where the code survived [1.] though they should suffice to show the methods.

The menu I began with was a simple list on the main page, that was dropped quickly due to the too limited space allotted. Another iteration used the same space to link to a set of menu pages. Initially, some menus had multiple links to the same page, hence, in those instances internal bookmarks to be used to hit specific locations on the same page. Here is an example of internal bookmarks showing portions of the code with links and targets for both directions:

  <h5><a id="back-code" name"back-code"></a>
  <a href="http://[site]/[path]/HowTo-hand-coding.html#code">
  Hand Coding<br />html and css files</a></h5>

  <h5><a id="back-template" name="back-template"></a>
  <a href="http://[site]/[path]/HowTo-template.html#template">
  Page Templates</a></h5>

  <h5><a id="back-hardware" name="back-hardware"></a>
  <a href="http://[site]/[path]/HowTo-hardware.html#hardware">
  Hardware</a></h5>

  <h5><a id="back-problems" name="back-problems"></a>
  <a href="http://[site]/[path]/HowTo-problems.html#problems">
  Problems</a></h5>

  <h5><a id="back-src" name="back-tools"></a>
  <a href="http://[site]/[path]/HowTo-tools.html#tools">
  Tools</a></h5>

  <h3>__________________________________</h3>

Notice the pound [#] symbol, those aim the links to specific, targeted locations on those respective menu pages. However, more attention should be focused on the first line of each menu link, where each back-[menu name] is a target location for the internal bookmark back-link.

Major changes have occurred [2.] on the site, despite that fact there is little purpose exhibiting more up-to-date code. The major differences are the internal bookmarks going to the menu pages are gone and there are now more menu options with some name differences. At one time, some individual articles may have had internal bookmarks linking them back to precise locations on a particular menu, but that is no longer true (see footnote 2).

General Internal Bookmarks Tips

I have found it helps to have a small set of easy to remember names to create the internal bookmarks promptly are reliably. The return link just reemploys the same name with a "back-" as the prefix. If you are able to reuse previous sets, then the process is sped by copy and paste. The latter technique also reduces the probability of error.

As a last tip, that can fall under the heading of search engine optimization I noticed today very long pages using internal bookmarks logical text divisions. The label was simple: h (for header) a dash, then the numeric section number. You should be cognizant, of course, I observed this use of internal bookmarks and subsequent indexing within a highly reputable on-line publication. Hence, it's general applicability to commercial sites may have limited return. That is, even if you succeed in gaining more external links in search engine results, the too long pages may drive your regular readers off your site. Therefore, if you decide to use the suggestion, employ it with care.

Corrections, suggested extension or comments write: How-To-Guy. If the mailto does not work, use this: hcohen[-At-]bst-softwaredevs.com.

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    1.  Warning: using source control the saved copy stems from the 
        last commit. Versions that were deleted before a new commit
        will be lost.  Return

    2.  Evolved from separate menus pages to only one template
        generating each.  The advantages are each menu content is now 
        dynamic content amenable to rapid change. The menus were coded 
        using php scripts.  Expect to see the methods published soon.
	Return

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