hrefURL

The hrefURL is a term used to denote the URL assigned to the href attribute of a hyperlink in HTML. It designates the destination resource when a user activates the link. The term is not part of the HTML specification but is used in documentation and code comments to refer to the value of href.

In practice, href URLs can be absolute (complete URL with scheme, host, and path) or relative (path relative to the current document or to a base URL). The base element or the document's location influences how relative URLs are resolved.

URLs should be properly encoded to preserve special characters. Percent-encoding handles unsafe characters. Absolute URLs include schemes like http, https, mailto, or ftp; relative ones omit the scheme.

Security and accessibility: When links open in new tabs, using target="_blank", it's best to add rel="noopener" or "noreferrer" to prevent tab-nabbing and limit the new page's access to the originating window. For accessibility, link text should describe the destination; avoid using bare URLs as the link text.

See also: URL, href attribute, base URL, link relation.