Links & Buttons
The styling on links and buttons is part of the SDSS platform theme. There is a slight difference in styling between links that are internal to your website vs. ones that link to another site.
- Example Link that is internal to your site
- Example External Link that links offsite (note the arrow showing this link goes to another website)
- Learn how to turn the External link icons on & off.
Inline Text Links
These are regular links that can be inserted into text in your content paragraphs. They are the most common type of link. These links are not bold or highlighted, but remain the same size and emphasis as regular text. Use the Link icon to turn text into a link.
Example Inline Text Link
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. This is an Inline Text Link Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
CTA Action Link
Call to Action Link, or CTA links, are used when you want to highlight (bold) a link and call attention to it. Once you make your text into a link, select Action Link from the Styles menu.
Example CTA Action Link on your site
Example CTA Action Link that goes offsite
Buttons
There are three types of buttons. Regular Button, Big Button and Secondary Button. Once you make your text into a link, select your button option from the Styles menu.
- Use Button for the most important Link(s) on a page. The link that is the item you most want them to click on.
- Use Big Button sparingly. No more than once on a page.
- Use Secondary Button for links that are sub-items or sub-links to a regular Button, but that are more important than a CTA link.
Link text best practices
When writing link text, it is important to give the user some context as to what they are linking to rather than using something generic like "Read more" or "Click here".
Here are two pages which go into more detail around this issue that also provide suggestions for good link text:
- Hyperlinks (Office of Digital Accessibility)
- Write accessible link text (Stanford Sites User Guide)
Turning the External Link Icon on & off
Here is Example External Link that links offsite (note the arrow showing this link goes to another website).
If you would rather not have these icons showing (no arrow pointing at an upward angle to the right), you can turn them off.
- Go to: Configuration > System > Site Settings
- Scroll down until you see Hide External Link Icons, and uncheck the box.
- Similarly, if you don't see those icons and you want to, make sure that box is checked.