3) Root Addressing
Root Addressing:

When to use Root Addressing:

  • To link to something on the same web server as your site, but not part of your site (for example, the class syllabus, or another student's site).
  • When a link using root addressing would be shorter and easier to understand than the same link using relative addressing

With Root addressing, you start with an initial slash which puts you at the server root, and from there you detail the directories that lead to the html (or other) file you want to display. If necessary you include the file name. If a file name is not specified then the default file name (if it exists) will display.

Remember: Root addressing cannot be tested locally--you must first publish your page so that the page will be on the same server as the thing that is being linked to.

An example of root addressing


Here is a link to the student found in wpd34using root addressing:

<A HREF="/student/wpd34/">Student wpd34</A>

**Please note that if no filename is specified, as in all addresses above, that means that the web server will display whatever the default file is for that system, if one has been published in that directory. If no file with a default name has been published, then a list of all the files in that directory will display.

On some systems the default file name is index.html or index.htm, on other systems that default file name might be default.html or home.html. Each server can be setup differently.

Still confused?
read

http://www.stars.com/Authoring/HTML/Tutorial/relative_absolute_links.html--more about relative and absolute links.

http://www.webteacher.org/macnet/navigate/navigation.html--a really handy tutorial, including a diagram of directory structures and the paths (at http://www.webteacher.org/macnet/navigate/path.html) used to get from here to there. Their homepage, might have other useful things too.