Links to third-party websites

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Drucare documentation sometimes has links to pages outside of the documentation or a Drucare website. When you include a link to a page outside of a Drucare site, consider whether the link is essential for the reader or if it’s supplemental information.

Essential links

An essential link is a link in the documentation that brings a reader to information they might have difficulty locating on their own but need to access while reading the topic. Linking to a third-party website is sometimes necessary, such as when you’re sending a developer to a repository or if a third-party site has information about connecting their product to a Drucare app or add-on. When you need to provide a link outside of Drucare documentation, follow these guidelines:

  • Spell out the full URL.
  • Include “http://www” or “https://www”.
  • Don’t capitalize any letters in the URL.
  • Remove the trailing slash at the end of the URL.

See the following examples:

Third-party links can change without your knowing, so check that the links work with every release of your documentation.

Supplemental links

A supplemental link is a link in the documentation that brings a reader to information they can locate on their own through a simple internet search. Avoid creating deep links to pages outside of Drucare sites when the link is supplemental. Instead, consider other ways you can direct users to information if you think they need assistance finding it, such as giving the user a search term and a website name. See the following examples:

  • Search for “Query tables” on the Microsoft website.
  • For details, see “Connecting to WMI Remotely Starting with Vista” on the Microsoft website.