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More about Links


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Illustrator & Links

Illustrator manages links through the Attributes panel:

You can turn any object into a link just by selecting Rectangle then entering the destination URL.


Two Types of Links

Links to pages on your site begin with/ and do not include the name of your site.

Links to other websites use the full web address, including https://.

Don’t Use Text as a Link

It is possible to use text as a link, but it only works when the user clicks on the solid part of a letter.

For example, clicking in the middle of an O does not activate the link.

For this reason, it’s best to draw a rectangle with 0% opacity as the link.


Organizing Links

It’s best to put all links on a dedicated links layer at the top of the Illustrator document:

This avoids two potential complications in adding links in Illustrator:

  • for linked objects, the link is not visible except in the Attributes panel
  • if another object is placed on top of the linked object, the link will not work

A Bright Color

It’s best to use brightly-colored rectangles on the dedicated links layer:

The following workflow makes it easy to manage your links:

Lock all layers except the links layer
Set all the links to 20% opacity while working
“Select All” and set the opacity to zero when you’re done

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