PDFs In Actinic

[Mich81]

Is it possible to have a link that goes to a pdf?

[jont]

v8 reply but the same in v7
http://community.actinic.com/showthread.php?t=27029

[Mich81]

i dont understand what they are saying can anyone esle help?

[jont]

You can do one of 2 things .. use the inbuild product [LINK] function to point to the PDF... or ...

The code shown by Duncan can be placed in the product description field or in the text area of a fragment.

!!<<a href="http://www.yourdomain.co.uk/acatalog/blahblah.pdf">Your text here</a>>!!

Looking at it closely there are 3 parts ...

!!< >!! tells Actinic this is HTML and not to display the text "as is"
< href="http://www.yourdomain.co.uk/acatalog/blahblah.pdf"> </a> this is the link to the PDF file on your website
Your Text Here ... this is what the user will see in their browser.. when they click the link it will launch the PDF file.

You will need to add the PDF to the additional files list in Actinic to handle the upload to the server

[Mich81]

i am such a technical idiot....

!!< >!! tells Actinic this is HTML and not to display the text "as is"
< href="http://www.yourdomain.co.uk/acatalog/blahblah.pdf"> </a> this is the link to the PDF file on your website
Your Text Here ... this is what the user will see in their browser.. when they click the link it will launch the PDF file.

i dont understand this!!!

blahblah.pdf"> </a> - i put the name of the pdf and what is > </a> ??

YOUR TEXT HERE ..... what does that mean?

Sorry if i am annoying i have no clue when it comes to these things!

[jont]

OK.. breakign down further...

!!<<a href="http://www.yourdomain.co.uk/acatalog/blahblah.pdf">Your text here</a>>!!

!!< >!! the HTML code is placed between these markers to tell Actinic to display a link... if you did not include these markers it woudd display <a href="http://www.yourdomain.co.uk/acatalog/blahblah.pdf">Your text here</a> as text (just like that) and not a proper HTML link ... this is how to tell Actinic what is between is in HTML and not raw text

yourdomain.co.uk .... replace "yourdomain.co.uk with your site name

blahblah.pdf... this is the filename of the PDF you want to link to

Your text here ..... this is the text that is displayed on the browser ... you can change this to "click here to download the PDF file"

<a></a> ... this is the HTML code for a hyperlink .. it stands for "anchor" .. it is made up of 2 parts ....

href="http://www.yourdomain.co.uk/acatalog/blahblah.pdf" .... the place on the site where you want to send the person to

"your text here" ... the actual text that is shown in the browser

Most HTML tags are opened <a> and then closed </a> to wrap the code and tell the browser where it starts are where it finishes.

<a href="http://www.yourdomain.co.uk/acatalog/blahblah.pdf">Your text here</a> is a standard HTML link that any web editor or web creation tool will use. The only difference is the inclusion of the !!< >!! at either end to tell Actinic it is HTML.

Hope that make sense?

[Mich81]

rightio i have done that now and on the product description it has my text (click here....) and then after it:

TARGET="_self"></A>>!!

now this link just goes to an empty page. how do i get it to show the pdf?

Thanks for your help!!!

[jont]

Sounds like you may have broken the code somewhere ... can you copy and paste here exactly what you have used and someone can take a look at the code.

Also check you have the PDF uploaded to the site and the filename is the same as the link.

[wjcampbe]

using TARGET="_self"> is a BAD idea - you are telling the browser to reeplace your site woth the pdf file. When the visitor closes the pdf, they will close their connection to your site - and you will have lost another customer.

The reason TARGET="_self"></A>>!! shows on your page is because you have put the target bit in the wrong place.

The whole line of code should read

!!<<a href="http://www.yourdomain.co.uk/acatalog/blahblah.pdf" TARGET="_blank">Your text here</a>>!!

using _blank will open the pdf in a new browser window. When the customer closes the pdf, your site will still be open in the original window - MUCH better.

[Mich81]

OK I HAVE DONE IT NOW WASNT USING MY BRAIN PROPERLY!!

Thanks guys!!

The only problem i have now is that it takes a very long time to load the pdf in the browser!


Nearly there.......... not bad for a blonde eh? hahaa


cheers people!

[JulieB]

PDF link again!

Hi guys

Can you cope with 2 blonds in one thread? my link text is showing but it does not open the pdf document. Presume it is the location of the document that is causing the problem -the pdf doc is in 'site1' did try changing acatalog for site1 but no joy. Sorry to be a pain. This link is not in a product.

Julie

www.gardening-naturally.com

[Duncan Rounding]

Post your link that you are using so we can see what may be wrong - also make sure you have added the file in the Additional Files List.

[wjcampbe]

It can also be useful to tell the browser what sort of link this is

!!<<a href="http://www.yourdomain.co.uk/acatalog/blahblah.pdf" type="application/pdf" TARGET="_blank">Your text here</a>>!!