A hyperlink is a connection from one hypertext-based resource to another. Though simple in concept, this is essentially how the World Wide Web works.

A link is made up of two ends: a source and a destination, called anchors.

The link is typically activated when a user selects the source anchor, either by a mouse click, thru keyboard input, a voice command, or thru some other means that may be introduced in the future.

The default behavior of a hypertext link is the retrieval of its destination anchor, which may be any Web resource — an HTML document, an element within an HTML document, an image, a reference file or program, etc.

Though several HTML elements may be used to create links to other resources, this section discusses anchors and links created with the <a> and <LINK> elements.

The A element is used to provide interactive links, and may only appear in the BODY of a document. This is the type of links we commonly see and use on Web pages, that take us to different destinations on the Web.

The LINK element is used to relate documents. This type of links are implicitly declared, and may only appear, in the HEAD of a document. They need no user interaction, and are not displayed.