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HTML header links to external references, how to display?

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  • Last reply by cor-el

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In HTML, in the head element, it is possible to specify links to external resources that are relevant to the current page. For example:

<link rel="alternate" type="application/pdf" href="mypage.pdf" title="My Page in PDF Format"> <link rel="license" href="copyright.html" title="Website License Information"> <link rel="next" href="page2.html">

Many years ago, I found an obscure setting that enabled a toolbar that would display all those document links directly in the browser. That was several computers ago, so I cannot look up the about:config setting that enabled the functionality, and my online searches have found nothing even remotely related to the subject.

What happened to that functionality? How can I turn it back on inside the latest version of Firefox?

Addendum: This functionality was not provided by any extension, add-on, or mod. It was implemented directly in the browser itself, downloaded vanilla and clean installed. It was enabled by directly editing the "about:config" page.

As for whether the cited links are intended for automated tools or not, here is the HTML standard itself:

Interactive user agents may provide users with a means to follow the hyperlinks created using the link element, somewhere within their user interface.

And just in case somebody suggests this is somehow new or novel functionality, here it is described in the HTML standard published in 1997:

Although LINK has no content, it conveys relationship information that may be rendered by user agents in a variety of ways (e.g., a tool-bar with a drop-down menu of links).

That "tool-bar with a drop-down menu of links" is almost exactly what Mozilla used to provide. I just want to know what happened to it.

In HTML, in the head element, it is possible to specify links to external resources that are relevant to the current page. For example: <link rel="alternate" type="application/pdf" href="mypage.pdf" title="My Page in PDF Format"> <link rel="license" href="copyright.html" title="Website License Information"> <link rel="next" href="page2.html"> Many years ago, I found an obscure setting that enabled a toolbar that would display all those document links directly in the browser. That was several computers ago, so I cannot look up the about:config setting that enabled the functionality, and my online searches have found nothing even remotely related to the subject. What happened to that functionality? How can I turn it back on inside the latest version of Firefox? Addendum: This functionality was not provided by any extension, add-on, or mod. It was implemented directly in the browser itself, downloaded vanilla and clean installed. It was enabled by directly editing the "about:config" page. As for whether the cited links are intended for automated tools or not, here is the HTML standard itself: [https://html.spec.whatwg.org/multipage/semantics.html#providing-users-with-a-means-to-follow-hyperlinks-created-using-the-link-element Interactive user agents may provide users with a means to follow the hyperlinks created using the link element, somewhere within their user interface.] And just in case somebody suggests this is somehow new or novel functionality, here it is described in the HTML standard published in 1997: [https://www.w3.org/TR/html4/struct/links.html#h-12.3 Although LINK has no content, it conveys relationship information that may be rendered by user agents in a variety of ways (e.g., a tool-bar with a drop-down menu of links).] That "tool-bar with a drop-down menu of links" is almost exactly what Mozilla used to provide. I just want to know what happened to it.

Modified by silnith

All Replies (4)

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The <link> elements you provided in your example (e.g., rel="alternate", rel="license", rel="next") are primarily used for providing additional information to browsers, search engines, or other web tools. They are not typically intended to create a user-facing toolbar or menu within the browser.

It is possible that any functionality you remember might have been associated with a browser extension or a specific feature that was available in an older version of a browser. Browser features and capabilities evolve over time, and certain functionalities may be deprecated or replaced.

If you are looking for a way to easily access links specified in the HTML <head> element, you might consider using a browser extension or add-on that provides such a feature. These can often be found in the browser's extension store or marketplace. You can check the HTML coding in my website: beach buggy racing mod apk

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I can't think of any built-in feature for that, unless it is in the Developer Tools panel (Ctrl+Shift+i or F12) somewhere.

Is it possible you were using Chris Pederick's Web Developer Toolbar add-on? I think after Firefox 57, it would look very different, but could still reveal the same information. I have not checked it myself:

https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/web-developer/

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Possible bookmarklet to list all links that have a rel attribute. If you only want some specific rel attributes, modify 'link[rel]' => 'link[rel="alternate"],link[rel="icon"]'. Note that there is a max length for what can be shown in a prompt.

javascript:(function(){
var L=[];
function N(A){
var i,O=[];
for(i=0;A[i];i++){
if(A[i].name=='rel'){O.unshift(A[i].name+': '+A[i].value)}
else{O.push(A[i].name+': '+A[i].value)}}
O.push('');
return(O.join('\n'))}
document.querySelectorAll('link[rel]').forEach(e=>{L.push(N(e.attributes))});
prompt(L.join('\n'),L.join(','))
})()