Links not going back a directory?

There are two type of paths: absolute and relative. This is basically the same for files in your hard disc and directories in a URL.

Absolute paths start with a leading slash. They always point to the same location, no matter where you use them:

  • /pages/en/faqs/faq-page1.html

Relative paths are the rest (all that do not start with slash). The location they point to depends on where you are using them

  • index.html is:
    • /pages/en/faqs/index.html if called from /pages/en/faqs/faq-page1.html
    • /pages/index.html if called from /pages/example.html
    • etc.

There are also two special directory names: . and ..:

  • . means "current directory"
  • .. means "parent directory"

You can use them to build relative paths:

  • ../index.html is /pages/en/index.html if called from /pages/en/faqs/faq-page1.html
  • ../../index.html is /pages/index.html if called from /pages/en/faqs/faq-page1.html

Once you're familiar with the terms, it's easy to understand what it's failing and how to fix it. You have two options:

  • Use absolute paths
  • Fix your relative paths

You need to give a relative file path of <a href="../index.html">Home</a>

Alternately you can specify a link from the root of your site with <a href="/pages/en/index.html">Home</a>

.. and . have special meanings in file paths, .. means up one directory and . means current directory.

so <a href="index.html">Home</a> is the same as <a href="./index.html">Home</a>


To go up a directory in a link, use ... This means "go up one directory", so your link will look something like this:

<a href="../index.html">Home</a>