XHTML Tutorial by Paul Bohman

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Links to Non-HTML Content

Is it possible to link to documents that aren't standard XHTML web files? Yes, it is. You can create links to Word documents, PDF documents, PowerPoint slides, images, and any other kind of file that you can think of. All you have to do is include the name of the file, plus the extension at the end, like this:

<a href="word_document.doc">Word document</a>
<a href="powerpoint_slides.ppt">PowerPoint Slides</a>
<a href="pdf_document.pdf">PDF document</a>

It's easy, and it works, but you do have to keep a couple of things in mind:

1. Not everyone will have the correct programs to open all of these types of files. Many people use Microsoft Office, but some use other programs such as Corel WordPerfect or OpenOffice or other programs. Many users have the Adobe Reader installed, but not everyone does, so they may not be able to access PDF files.
2. Many of the non-HTML formats are less accessible to people with disabilities, though it is possible to make some of them accessible. We'll talk about this in more detail in future topics.