eb Legalities: Linking

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A link is the address of a web page which is ...
on a page ... you to jump to the new web page.
One of the great things about HTMLand the world wide web is this ability to link sites to A link is the address of a web page which is maintained on a page whichallows you to jump to the new web page. One of the great things about HTMLand the world wide web is this ability to link sites together.
This resultsin the internet truly becoming a web, and the benefits to the surfer aretremendous.It is normal for virtually every site on the web to maintain a list of linksto "favorite", "featured" or "special" places to visit. This is almost neverdone with permission, nor does it need to be.
Remember that we are discussing linking to pages on other web sites, notgraphics, zip files, sound files or anything else. Only HTML-style pages areacceptable for cross-linking.
Linking to other types of media files iscalled bandwidth stealing and is highly unethical. Also remember, do notlink to other people's CGI routines without permission.There is some concern over the acceptableness of this linking behavior.
Somecommercial sites are not happy with linking because it bypasses their "homepage" or sidesteps their advertising. There is even some discussion thatlinking is a trademark infringement or violates some other sacred rights.This is all silly talk by people and organizations who completelymisunderstand the nature of the world wide web.
The best practice ofeveryone creating a site is to complete ignore this asinine discussiontotally and to link vigorously and constantly.In my opinion the best way to think of linking is to associate it with the"fair use" laws. These are the laws which allow people to include shortquotes from published and copyrighted works in their own materials.
This isnot illegal or unethical - in fact it is absolutely necessary. Imagine howdifficult it would be for a college student to write a term paper if hecould not quote authors, or how impossible it would be for a critic to dohis job if he could not include a few lines from the work he was writingabout.Fair use is something that comes under attack by dimwits sometimes.
It isessential that we, the people, constantly use the fair use laws, as if theybecome unused then they will become illegal. We must defend our rights toquote and "borrow" snippets from other sources.Note, however, you should follow some guidelines when linking.- Keep your links simple.
Fair use allows small quotes, and as long as youkeep things short you should be fine. If you start including complexgraphics or long passages of text then you are putting yourself at risk aswell as possibly plagiarizing.- Get permission where possible or feasible.
This can work to youradvantage, as you can do a "link exchange" which has many uses (more linksto your site means a higher popularity by search engines).- Include a section of your own which explains to your visitors that youhave no control over external links You think they might be of interest, butyou don't have any responsibility for their content.- Again, only link to HTML and text style pages. Do not link to multimediafiles (images, sounds and videos).- Also, remember to not link to CGI routines (and other executable objects)without permission.When you are designing your own site, it's a great idea to be sure that youunderstand that people will be bookmarking and linking to any and every pagethat you've got.
Search engines also are notorious for sending visitorswilly-nilly to whatever page they believe fits a search topic. Thus, yournavigation and overall design must allow visitors to move around freely onyour site regardless of which page they land upon.The bottom line is simple.
People can link to any page they want to withinyour site (just as they can bookmark anything at will). Those webmasters whomoan about this practice or make attempts to stop it are wasting their timeand have little understanding of how the internet really works.
Those whoplan their website around the concept will create a better experience fortheir visitors, gain more traffic and thus better achieve their goals. Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com .