Did you know about our best practices for hard-coded links on your Knowledgebase site?
A hard-coded link is created with HTML code which uses a URL to hyperlink text to point to a file or a location on a website, server, or application.
Here is an example of a hard-coded link (hyperlinked text) that points to Infor's website.
The HTML code for this hard-coded link’s URL is:
<a href=”https://www.infor.com" target=”_blank”>Infor’s website</a>.
According to our best practices, hard-coded links (hyperlinked text) are not recommended on:
- Main (landing) pages;
- Widgets; or
- Content pages
They are only recommended in benefit plans.
The Integration Strategy
Use integration documents to link to online locations and files.
An integration document contains a URL and can include meta tags that cause its link to appear on main pages and widgets.
Links to integrations can be added to link lists in content documents.
Why Hard-coded Links Are Against Our Best Practices
Filtering:
Documents on Knowledgebase sites are filtered via group access. For example, non-management employees cannot see documents that have management groups only.
In effect, hard-coded links destroy filtering.
All users can see hard-coded links, but not all users can access them successfully.
If a hard-coded link points to a group-filtered document, all users will see its link, but only users that have the same group access as the document are able to open it successfully. A “page not available” type error message appears to all other users.
In the following example, the user does not have group access to the integration document in the widget’s link list. Thus its link does not appear to the user.
However, the hard-coded link that points to the integration document still appears. When the user clicks on it, the message, “You do not have access to this page” appears.
Site Maintenance:
Hard-coded links are difficult to maintain. Updating multiple copies of a hard-coded link requires user to locate, identify, and edit every page that includes it.
However, when any document on the KB site is no longer needed, it can be deleted. Its links are automatically deleted from all pages and widgets that include links to it.
When an integration document’s URL is updated, it is automatically updated on all pages and widgets that include links to it.
Useful Documents
Please refer to the following documents for additional details.
V11 KCM - About Hard-Coded Links
Review this document for more information and examples of hard-coded links and integrations on KB pages and widgets.
V11 KCM: Creating an Integration
Follow this procedure to create an integration document via the Knowledgebase Content Management (KCM) system.
For questions or more information, contact your HRSD Customer Success Manager.
