Create an External Link

What is an external link?
Steps to create a basic external link

What is an external link?

External links are links which are placed on publication pages which navigate to external websites. For instance, an external link on page 2 could redirect the user to google.com when clicked.

Steps to create a basic external link

1) From "All Publications", open Zmags Enriched by clicking on the icon under the "Enrichments" column, to the right of your publication in the list.

2) Once Zmags Enriched opens, click on the Link icon in the toolbar (Fig 1.0) on the left hand side of the interface and choose External Link. After this, mark an area on the page on which you want to place the link.  (Fig 1.1)

Fig 1.0



Fig 1.1


3) This will open the external link dialog box (Fig 1.2), which has the following properties:

Fig 1.2


URL - The website to direct the user to. Be sure to include http:// at the beginning, as this is required for proper functionality.  Also, when using a "mailto:" functionality URL with an HTML5 viewer you will need to select open in "Current window/tab" for the link to work appropriately.

Open link in - This property determines where the external link is opened. The following options are available:
    - New window/tab: A new, blank window or tab is opened and the URL is loaded there.
Note: When selecting this option, there are certain limitations with Internet Explorer to keep in mind.  
    - Current window/tab: The window or tab containing the Zmag loads the URL instead.
    - Parent frame: If the Zmag is contained in a frame, this type of link will load in frame.
    - Lightbox: Opens the URL in a light box popup. For more information, see Create a Lightbox Link.
    - Custom: If a custom target is needed, select this and type the name of the target in the input box to the right of the drop down menu.
Example: Multiple links are given the same custom target "test", no frame in the current window has an ID of "test". A new browser tab is opened for the first such link clicked, and all subsequent links with this target will open in that same tab.

- Width & Height: The width and height of the link area in Pixels on the page

- Top & Left: The exact position of the link in Pixels on the page

External source allows you to use images from the media library in the link area you have defined. The default value is None, which will make the link behave as a normal link.

Opacity determines how transparent the link should be in the Editor. Set to 0% for completely invisible links. Set to 100% for complete opaque links. However, these will only be opaque in the editor, and still will be transparent in your live publication. 

4) After creating the link(s) choose File > Save All from the top menu and Exit Zmags Enriched