UI COM Style Guide
  • UI COM Style Guide
  • Contact Us
  • Writing for the Web
    • Know Your Audience
    • Reduce Content
    • Make Content Accessible and Easy to Read
      • Write in Plain Language
      • Write Content That is Design Agnostic
      • Structure Your Content
        • Use Headings Correctly
        • Formatting Lists
      • Images and Videos
        • Sizing Images
        • Follow Alt Text Best Practices
        • Videos
      • Avoid PDFs
      • Make User Friendly Forms
      • Make User Friendly Links and Buttons
        • Write Quality Link Text
        • Linking a Phone number or Email
        • Links to External Sites
    • Make Content Findable
    • Writing for the Web Tools
  • College of Medicine Logos, Brand & Style
    • Write with the College Web Style
      • Voice and Tone
      • Terminology and Language
        • UI COM Name Usage
        • Names and titles
        • Departments
        • Degrees and programs
        • Academic year and fiscal year
        • Alumni
        • Abbreviations and acronyms
        • Other Terminology
        • Inclusive language
      • Capitalization
      • Phone & Fax Number Formatting
      • Time and Dates
      • Address & Building Numbers Formatting
      • Profiles
    • Color Palette
    • Typography
    • Logo Guidelines
  • Info for the Chicago Campus
    • Chicago Campus Name Usage
    • Chicago Department Names
    • Chicago Administrative Offices/Personnel Titles
    • UI Health
    • Homepage Guidelines
    • Creating a New Website
  • Info for the Peoria Campus
    • Peoria Campus Name Usage
    • Peoria Department Names
    • Peoria Administrative Offices/Personnel Titles
    • Peoria Terminology
  • Info for the Rockford Campus
    • Rockford Campus Name Usage
    • Rockford Department Names
    • Rockford Administrative Offices/Personnel Titles
    • Rockford Terminology
    • Affiliations
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On this page
  • Always open external links in a new tab.
  • Do not add the entire URL as part of the text.
  1. Writing for the Web
  2. Make Content Accessible and Easy to Read
  3. Make User Friendly Links and Buttons

Links to External Sites

Follow the below web best practices when linking to external sites.

PreviousLinking a Phone number or EmailNextMake Content Findable

Last updated 1 year ago

Always open external links in a new tab.

You want your user to have the option of coming back to the site. This is also good for SEO ranking. This can be achieved by using target="_blank" in the <a href=""> tag in the html code. Or, in WordPress, you can click on the settings and check the "open in a new tab". See below: First, click on the settings icon Then ensure the checkbox "open in a new tab" is selected.

Whenever you include any links to external sites, make sure the destination is trustworthy. Sites with .gov or .edu are generally safe, as well as sites for organizations that the university has a known partnership with.

Do not add the entire URL as part of the text.

If a website user is visually impaired and using a screen reading device, they will have to listen to the entire URL being read aloud.

Wrong usage:

See the website here:

Correct usage:

https://ios.lisisoft.com/s/medical.html
Visit the Lisisoft website