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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