Link Bars

How Link Relations Are Implemented

1.51, 2007-06-17

More browsers are beginning to support link relations. These are links that may not appear within the page itself, but describe connections such as "Next", "Home", or "Glossary", allowing simple, consistent navigation for all web content that defines these relationships.

linknav.js

A simple client script to provide the link bar functionality missing in many browsers.

Three simple arrows for previous, up, and next.
A drop-down menu to list all links defined by the page.

Firefox Site Navigation Bar Extension

For Firefox, the Site Navigation Bar, which uses labeled icons, a Document menu, a More menu, and a Links button that opens a sidebar listing all the links in the page.

Nearly identical to the Mozilla SeaMonkey Site Navigation Bar.
The last matching link is used when more than one applies to a button.
Relationships (rel attributes) for both a elements and link elements are included.
Reverse relationships (rev attributes) are erroneously treated identically to rel attributes.
Links that are not understood are ignored.
All alternate page versions (language or media alternates) are added to the More → Other Versions menu, and indicate the alternate type.

Figure 1.1. Firefox's Site Navigation Bar Extension

Firefox Site Navigation Bar Extension

Firefox Site Navigation Bar Extension, Document menu

Firefox Site Navigation Bar Extension, More menu

Firefox cmSiteNavigation Toolbar Extension

For Firefox, the cmSiteNavigation Toolbar extension, which uses labeled icons, and several menus: Directories, Sections, Chapters, Bookmarks, Appendicies, Versions, and Infos.

Nearly identical to the Site Navigation Bar extension, save that the submenus are menus.
Navigation buttons labels are set to the title attribute of the matching link.
The last matching link is used when more than one applies to a button.
Relationships (rel attributes) for both a elements and link elements are included.
Reverse relationships (rev attributes) are erroneously treated identically to rel attributes.
Links that are not understood are ignored.
All alternate page versions (language or media alternates) are added to the Versions menu, and indicate the alternate type.

Figure 1.1. Firefox's cmSiteNavigation Toolbar extension

Internet Explorer

Internet Explorer requires the <LINK>-Bar extension, which uses unlabeled icons (link titles are used as tooltips), a [<LINK>-Bar] menu, and adds a popup blocker and a Google search.

Toolbar buttons with more than one applicable link become menus (First and Start for the [First] button; Previous and Prev for the [Previous] button).
All alternate page versions (language or media alternates) are added to the [Alternate] menu.
When the title attribute would be used, but is not provided, the href attribute is used instead.

Figure 1.1. The <LINK>-Bar extension for Internet Explorer

Mozilla SeaMonkey

Mozilla SeaMonkey uses a toolbar with labeled icons, a Document menu, and a More menu.

The first matching link is used when more than one applies to a button.
Links that are not understood by Mozilla are available at More → rel (lower case) → title.
When the title attribute would be used, but is not provided, the rel attribute is used instead.

Figure 1.1. Mozilla SeaMonkey's Link Bar

Opera

Opera uses a toolbar with text buttons and no menus. The best matching link is used.

Figure 1.1. Opera's Link Bar (Windows)

Figure 1.2. Opera's Link Bar (Macintosh)

iCab

iCab uses a toolbar with tiny unlabeled icons.

iCab was the first GUI-based browser to offer a linkbar (preceded only by the text-mode Lynx browser), and uses a toolbar with tiny unlabeled icons.
Links that are not understood by iCab are available at ▼ [List of all standard links] → >title (▼ [List of all standard links] → <title for rev).
The first matching link is used when more than one matches a button.

Figure 1.1. iCab's Standard Links toolbar (enlarged)

Link Toolbars Layout

`rel`	Mozilla SeaMonkey	Firefox Site Navigation Bar	Opera	iCab	IE <LINK>-Bar
`Alternate` (`hreflang`)	More → Other Versions → : `title`	More → Other Versions → `title` [`hreflang`]	–	–	[Alternate]
`Alternate` (`lang`)	More → Other Versions → `title`	More → Other Versions → `title`	–	–	[Alternate]
`Alternate` (`media`)	More → Other Versions → `media`: `title`	More → Other Versions → `title` [`media`]	–	–	[Alternate]
`Alternate` (stylesheet)	(stylesheet menu)	(stylesheet menu)	(stylesheet menu)	(stylesheet menu)	(stylesheet menu)
`Appendix`	Document → Appendices → `title`	Document → Appendices → `title`	–	–	[<LINK>-Bar menu] → Appendices → `title`
`Author`	More → Author(s)	More → Author(s)	Author	[Author, email address]	@
`Banner`	–	–	–	–	–
`Begin`	First	First	First (overridden by `First`)	[First page]	[First]
`BiblioEntry`	–	–	–	–	–
`Bibliography`	–	–	–	–	–
`Bookmark`	More → Bookmarks → `title`	More → Bookmarks → `title`	–	–	[<LINK>-Bar menu] → Bookmarks → `title`
`Chapter`	Document → Chapters → `title`	Document → Chapters → `title`	–	–	[<LINK>-Bar menu] → Chapters → `title`
`Child`	Next	Next	–	–	–
`Citation`	–	–	–	–	–
`Contents`	Document → Table of Contents	Document → Table of Contents	Contents	[Table of Content]	[Contents]
`Copyright`	More → Copyright	More → Copyright	Copyright	[Copyright information]	©
`Definition`	–	–	–	–	–
`Disclaimer`	–	–	–	–	–
`Editor`	–	–	–	–	–
`End`	Last	Last	Last (overridden by `Last`)	[Last page]	[Last]
`Find`	–	–	–	[Search]	–
`First`	First	First	First	[First page]	[First]
`Footnote`	–	–	–	–	–
`Glossary`	Document → Glossary	Document → Glossary	Glossary	–	G
`Help`	More → Help	More → Help	Help	[Help]	?
`Home`	–	–	Home	[Start page]	[Home]
`Index`	Document → Index	Document → Index	Index	[Index]	IDX
`Last`	Last	Last	Last	[Last page]	[Last]
`Made`	More → Author(s)	More → Author(s)	–	–	@
`Made` (`rev`)	More → Author(s)	More → Author(s)	Author	[Author, email address]	@
`Meta`	–	–	–	–	–
`Navigator`	–	–	–	–	–
`Next`	Next (precaches, if possible)	Next (precaches, if possible)	Next	[Next page]	[Next]
`Origin`	Top	Top	–	–	–
`Parent`	Up	Up	–	–	–
`Prefetch`	(precaches, if possible)	(precaches, if possible)	–	–	–
`Prev`	Previous	Previous	Previous (overridden by `Previous`)	[Previous page]	[Previous]
`Previous`	Previous	Previous	Previous	[Previous page]	[Previous]
`Publisher`	–	–	–	–	–
`Script`	–	–	–	–	–
`Search`	More → Search	More → Search	Search	[Search]	[Search]
`Section`	Document → Section → `title`	Document → Section → `title`	–	–	[<LINK>-Bar menu] → Sections → `title`
`Sibling`	–	–	–	–	–
`Start`	Top	Top	Home (overridden by `Home`)	[Start page]	[Home]
`Stylesheet`	(stylesheet menu)	(stylesheet menu)	(stylesheet menu)	(stylesheet menu)	(stylesheet menu)
`Subsection`	Document → Subsection → `title`	Document → Subsection → `title`	–	–	[<LINK>-Bar menu] → Subsections → `title`
`TOC`	Document → Table of Contents	Document → Table of Contents	Contents (overridden by `Contents`)	[Table of Content]	[Contents]
`Top`	Top	Top	Home (overridden by `Home` or `Start`)	[Start page]	[<LINK>-Bar menu] → `rel`: `title`
`Trademark`	–	–	–	–	–
`Translation`	–	–	–	–	–
`Up`	Up	Up	Up	[Higher level Chapter]	[Up]

Note

All toolbar buttons use the first link that matches a button, except Firebird and the IE <LINK>-Bar which build a menu for the button if more than one match is found.

More Information