Adding extra information in new window and ALT text

You might want to have extra information available for a HTML or Snap Online WebHost survey that doesn’t interfere with the questionnaire. You can do this by putting a link in your survey which opens in a separate browser window. You can link to standard sites, or the documents that you have created which provide additional material for respondents.

For small items, you can also add ALT text to an image (which gives you a line of text when your mouse hovers over it or images aren’t shown; depending how people have configured their browser).

Background

When your respondent opens a questionnaire in a Web HTML survey or Snap WebHost survey, they are using a Web browser such as Internet Explorer. When they click the [Next] button on the web page, they will be taken to a new page in the same browser window. If you add a link to the page, that could also open the new page in the same window and interfere with their completion of the survey. However, browsers have the capability to open other pages in new windows. You can use Snap to tell the browser to open a link in a new window so that it is clearly unrelated to the survey.

Summary of steps

Step 1: Creating the link to the extra information
Step 2: Converting the link to open a new window
Step 3: Check your window opens when you publish
Using ALT text on an image for extra information

Step 1: Creating the link to the extra information

  1. Open the survey that you are adding the link to.
  2. In Edit mode, select the text that you wish to become a clickable link.
    Selected click here
  3. Right-click the text and select Insert then HTML field from the context menu. (An Insert button is also available on the toolbar when you have Fonts selected in the Toolbar topics menu.) A dialogue box appears. By default, the selected text appears as the Web address.
    New html dialog with "click here"
  4. Edit the text in the Web Address box to be that of the site you want to link to, e.g., www.snapsurveys.com.
    newWebAddress
  5. Click [OK]. Snap inserts the start and end link tags in the questionnaire.
    <a href> link visible in questionnaire design

Step 2: Check your window opens when you publish

When you have completed your questionnaire design, you need to test your links.

  1. Select File|Publish or click [Ctrl] + [Shift] + [W] to open the Publish Questionnaire dialog.
  2. Check that the output is set to Preview only.
    previewOnly
  3. Click [Publish] and check that the link works as expected.

Using ALT text on an image for extra information

When you insert an image into an HTML or Snap Online WebHost survey, you have the option of putting in ALT text (this is text which supplements the picture or is displayed if the picture is not available).

You can use this to provide little pieces of extra information.

When inserting the image, complete the Alt text field below the image. Describe the image briefly to conform with accessibility guidelines, and explain its function.
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When you publish your survey, move your mouse over the image. In most browsers, the ALT text will be displayed.
Alt text displayed in browser

If there is a topic you would like a worksheet on, email to snapideas@snapsurveys.com