Unable to correctly create hyperlinks in HTML5 output from Framemaker

[riordanb]

What is the correct workflow to add hyperlinks to FM source document so that correct <a href="...">link</a> is created?

I have noticed that when using message URL from the insert>hypertext it can:

• Cause the html5 output to have the entire paragraph containing the hypertext to be wrapped in <a>
• Cause the paragraph up until (and including) the hypertext word/phrase to be wrapped in an <a>

or

• Not produce any <a> tags in the output

<a><p>Here is an short paragraph as an example of a incorrect <span class="crossref">link</span></p></a>
<a><p>Here is an short paragraph as an example of a incorrect <span class="crossref">link</span></p>with some text afterwards</a>
<p>Here is an short paragraph as an example of a non-existent<span class="crossref">link</span></p>

<p>Here is an short paragraph as an example of a correct <a><span class="crossref">link</span></a>with some text afterwards</p>​

What is the correct procedure to insert hyperlinks into Framemaker so that correct outputs are produced when publishing to HTML5? I am on FrameMaker 2019, I noticed similar behaviour in Framemaker 2015.

Cheers

[StudioSm]

It sure looks like a bug. I tried testing it in the latest three version of FrameMaker and as far as I can see, it's the same behaviour. The hyperlink spans the entire paragraph.

I tried doing a workaround creating a paragrahp with run in head, but that just creates other problems.

[riordanb]

I have seen information online (adobe documentation and 3rd party) that the expected usage is to mark the linking text with a different character style as well as the hypertext marker. I have seen differences in the outputs depending on what order this is done in, but none are correct/what is expected. This definitely seems like a bug. 

[Hezy A]

Can you clarify, are you talking about using cross references, or using hyperlinks to open other web pages?

Because Cross references to other documents using "insert cross reference" do work correctly

[DHTML]

Hi. I found that I had a similar experience. My PDF output was fine yet HTML5 had the hyperlink text span the paragraph.

After reading through some Adobe help, I found that (as Riordanb says) you have to apply a character style to the text that you want to be the hyperlink and to the hyperlink marker that is added in-line too. It must be continuous, with no breaks.

In some cases, I found that my hyperlink marker did not have a character style applied to it and then the whole para was then used as the hyperlink text, as you describe. 

FrameMaker seems to look around the hyperlink marker and search for adjacent characters that have the same character style and it uses those as the hyperlink text.

Hope that helps.

[davidcfrye · Accepted solution]

This is a classic issue:

1. Select the text to hyperlink.
2. Apply your character tag (ours is called "Link").
3. Open your hypertext pod.
4. Select Go to URL.
5. Insert destination
6. Click Create.

If you don't do it this way, the entire paragraph will become clickable in your output. It will also happen if you have a space between the marker and the desired text.

Cross-refs in Frame are not links, but render in HTML as though they were when they are converted during the HTML generation. You don't need the procedure above for them.

[riordanb]

To further on David's answer:

The destination link needs to be the full URL i.e https://www.google.com/ NOT www.google.com

You can apply the character tag/style before or after, however, you must have both.

I have also noticed that if you map the character tag used for the hypertext links in the HTML output (for example a character style "Note" is mapped to <strong> in my output), it can cause the <a> to wrap from the beginning of the paragraph up to the intended word. So if you use this functionality in your HTML outputs, it may be best to use a character style that isn't modified during publishing.

Cheers for the help