Xara Webster - Web Addresses

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You can add web addresses to objects so when your drawing is displayed on a World Wide Web page using the Xara plug-in , you can click on the objects to take you to other pages. You can even set the web address so it opens an email form or a newsgroup when you click on it!

To add a web address to an object, just select the object, choose Web Address from the Utilities menu, enter the address and click Add.

Types of Web Address

Absolute Web Addresses

These consist of the full address for a location. They usually start with the type of location followed by a colon (e.g. 'http:'). Here are some examples :

"http://www.microsoft.com/"
"www.xara.com", the Xara Ltd web site - "http://" is automatically inserted in front of "www.xara.com".
"file:///c|/picture.xar" - picture.xar on the C drive.
"D:\picture.web" - picture.web on the D drive. This is an alternative format using a ' \ '.

Relative Web Addresses

These are shortened web addresses which specify locations relative to current location. This means you can specify files that are in the same directory or in subdirectories easily. Here are some examples :

"picture.web" - the picture.web file.
"pictures/picture.web" - the picture.web file in the pictures subdirectory.
"../page.html" - the page.html file in the directory above.
"/picture.xar" - picture.xar in the root directory of the web site.

How Web Addresses Are Treated

If a web address consists of three groups of letters separated by dots, e.g. "www.xara.com", Xara Webster treats it as "http://www.xara.com".
If a web address starts with a '/' it is assumed to be an absolute web address starting from the root of the drive containing the .web or .xar file.
If a web address starts with some letters followed by a colon, Xara Webster will assume it is an absolute web address. If it does not, Xara Webster will assume it is a relative web address.

Adding Web Addresses to Text

If you add a web address to a text object, you can click on the text in a web browser in the same way as normal to move to another page. However, as it only works when you click exactly on the text, you might want it to work if you click anywhere over the text, not just on the letters. So, for example, in the text here, clicking between the k and the H would not do anything.

To change the way web addresses work with text :

Draw a rectangle over the text that just covers it.
Add the web address to the text and the rectangle.
Set the transparency of the rectangle to 100%.
Group the text and the rectangle so they always move together.

Now with the drawing on a web page, clicking anywhere over the text object (even between the letters!) will work.

General Tips

Wherever possible, use relative addresses to link between files. You can then move sets of files without breaking links.
If you have an address like "abc.com" rather than "www.abc.com" enter "http://abc.com" to ensure the "http://" is added.
You can add a web address to an object quickly by right-clicking on the object to open the pop-up menu and choosing Web Address.
You can add a web address to any type of object. For example, if you add a web address to a group, clicking on any object in the group on a Web page will take you to the address!
To test out your links, just drag the .web file into a web browser.
Xara Webster does not check the validity of web addresses you type in.
You can create an invisible object with a web address which still works when you click on it. Just make the object 100% transparent.

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