A link is a connection between a Phrontex page and content elsewhere in your Phrontex system, or elsewhere on the internet.

Links are one of the key features that make your Phrontex system powerful. The more you link the elements of your system together, the more efficiently your people can use it, and the less work you have to do to keep your system up-to-date. Prime example: whenever you mention a job title in any page, always include it as a link to the position page. The benefits —

  • When the job title changes (some organizations do this often) you only need to change the title of the position page. Every link to the position will automatically show the new title.
  • The position page will automatically display a list of all the pages that include a link to the position. If you add a new procedure that includes a link to the position, the position page will automatically include that new procedure, and the position holder(s) will be notified of the change.

To add a link

  • Method 1: Select where you want the link to appear. Click Link in the toolbar.
  • Method 2: Drag the target page from the menu and drop it where you want. (You can use ctrl-click to open and close menu items without browsing to the clicked page.)

To add a link to a graphic

  • Method 1: Click the graphic to select it. Click Link in the toolbar.
  • Method 2: Drag the target page from the menu and drop it onto the graphic.

In both cases the link appears as a shaded area on the graphic. Use the mouse to position and size the area where you want users to be able to click. The shading is not visible when the page is viewed. The cursor changes to a pointer when positioned over the area.

Link types

Each link is of one of these types —

attachment

Link to download a file that was uploaded as a page attachment. See

download

Link to download a menu as a file. The user will be prompted to selected the file format. See

external URL

Link to a URL outside the Phrontex system. The linked page will open in a new browser tab.

list of pages selected by tag

Within the current page, display a list of pages selected by one or more tags. See

page

Link to another page in your Phrontex system, or include the content of the target page.

Displayed text and mouseover text

The text elements may include a title placeholder ( [TITLE] or [title] ) . This will be replaced, when the page is viewed, with the title of the target page. This will always be the current title of the latest version of the target page: if the target page is renamed, links to it will show the new name.

  • Use [TITLE] to insert the normal title of the target page.
  • Use [title] to insert the title in lower case.

Link format

If linking to a page or a list of pages selected by tag, you can choose one of these formats —

normal link

Standard hyperlink: user clicks the link and the target page is displayed as new content.

popup

Displayed as a normal link. When user clicks the link the content of the target page is displayed in a popup. This is useful for content like defined terms and additional notes. Make sure that the target page is short and simple enough to display well as a popup.

embedded content

When the page is viewed the content of the target page is embedded in the viewed page. The user will not see this as a link. They just see content.

This technique is useful if you have standard wordings that need to be used in multiple places, such as definitions or boilerplate text. For example, if you have standard safety notes to be included your operating procedures: create a separate page for each note. Then when writing an operating procedure, link to the notes required for that procedure. The benefits —

  • Less work: each note gets written only once, not once for each procedure.
  • Consistency: the safety note content is necessarily the same in each procedure that uses it.
  • Ease of update: when the note is changed, every procedure that uses it will automatically include the new content

  • Separation of accountability: accountability for the safety notes and for the operating procedures can be assigned separately. Your Safety Manager doesn’t write operating procedures; your Operations Manager doesn’t write safety notes.

If there are links in the embedded content, those links will be rendered as normal links or as popups: nested embedding is not supported.

embedded content with title

As for embedded content, but also including the title of the embedded page.

Adding user details

If your target page is associated with a system user — as is the case with position pages — you can have the user’s name and phone number or email address displayed with the link. For example you might have an emergency response procedure with an instruction like


If the warehouse freezer fails, call the Facility Manager.

Facility Manager is a link to the Facility Manager position page, which is linked, in turn, to the user(s) holding that position. If you select Add user details, the link will include contact details for those user(s) —


If the warehouse freezer fails, call the Facility Manager (Elizabeth Bennett, 0433 234 234)

The details displayed will be for the current position holder at the time the page is viewed. If a new person takes over the role of facility manager, the link will show the details of the new position holder.

Linking to URLs within your internal network

You can use the External link type to link to anything with a URL. This can include URLs within your internal corporate network. Bear in mind that such links will work only if the user is on your corporate network when they view the page. The link will not work if the user is on a normal internet connection. Also note that Phrontex itself has no access to the content you link to. Phrontex simply displays the URL: what happens when the user clicks the URL is a private matter involving the user, their browser, and the network they are on at the time.

Links and permissions

If a user viewing the page does not have permission for the link target, the link is rendered as plain text, not as a link.

The user does not have permission if —

  • the page has been approved and they do not have view permission for it, or
  • the page exists only as a draft and they do not have edit permission for it.