Link destination types
The most familiar type of hyperlink is the type that links to a Web page or site, such as “http://www.example.com”. But there are other kinds, as well. Various link types are distinguised by the protocol identifier that appears at the beginning of the URL. Some common link types are listed below.
http
Hypertext Transfer Protocol: This is the usual link type for Web resources—documents, images, and so forth.
https
Hypertext Transfer Protocol, Secure: The same as HTTP, but with the addition of Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), a protocol for transmitting sensitive material securely over the Internet.
ftp
File Transfer Protocol: Links that begin with “ftp://” are for files and directories on FTP servers (Internet file servers).
irc
Internet Relay Chat: Links to an IRC channel—a virtual meeting place where users “chat” by means of instant text messages. IRC links require additional software (an IRC client) to open.
news, nntp
Network News Transfer Protocol: Links to a newsgroup or article on a network news server.
gopher
A less-sophisticated precursor of the Web, developed by the University of Minnesota. Although most Web browsers are able to display gopher documents, very few gopher servers still exist.
telnet
The telnet protocol allows users to access remote computers using a command line interface. It is typically used by administrators to access remote Unix servers. Telnet links require additional software (a telnet client) to open.
The protocol for e-mail links. Mailto links are not truly hyperlinks, since clicking a mailto link does not result in a connection to anything; it only tells the Web browser to create a new, blank e-mail message with the specified “to” address. For the same reason, there is no such thing as a mailto URL. Mailto links take the form “mailto:username@servername.domain“.
This type of link is used to point to a file on the local file systemThe collection of drives and network folders connected to your computer.. In general, file links are only used temporarily, before a document is published to the Web, since users of remote computers cannot access files on your local file system. Namo WebEditor uses file links in temporary documents (documents that have not yet been saved) to point to images and other resource files, since the relative path to a resource is not known until the document is saved. When you save the document, Namo WebEditor offers to convert the file links to relative links based on the location of the document.