Tools for creating links in Drupal 8 CKEditor

Following the hottest trends, Drudesk regularly posts Drupal 8 overviews. Today’s post will be about CKEditor and tools for link-building in it. We hope it will be as interesting as our Drupal 8 posts about adding media easily with the Media entity module, protecting a website from spam using the Honeypot module, making it mobile-friendly with the help of the Responsive and off-canvas menu module, and others. Let’s begin.

Drupal 8 CKEditor: modern tool, basic functionality

Being the default content editor in Drupal 8, CKEditor enjoys well-deserved respect for being really customizable, having many special features and plugins, offering opportunities for inline editing, and much more.

However, out of the box, this editor has just a basic set of functionality, which might be enough for many tasks — but not for all.

CKEditor and link creation: something is missing but it can be added

One of the tasks CKEditor does not fully cover is creating and managing links. This task is one of the most important ones among content administrators, because we know what link-building means for SEO and usability. So the issue deserves some attention.

So what do you see in CKEditor? Clicking on the “add link” button, you get an a little obscure URL field with no explanation about the expected formats.

And what can be done to optimize the process? Keep calm, and install additional tools for CKEditor in Drupal 8. Thanks to the never-ending efforts of the Drupal community, these tools never stop appearing.

Some useful modules and plugins for link-building in CKEditor

• Linkit

The Linkit module offers a convenient interface for adding internal and external links with excellent autocomplete options. With the help of dynamic search, it provides content administrators with ready link suggestions with the proper structure, so there is no place for a human formatting error. Linkit has support for all types of entities, as well as additional modern tools like IMCE file uploader, Token and Legacy Redirect, and it is highly configurable.

• CKEditor Entity Link

Another useful module with a link autofill function. Just configure what entity types to search for and, when a content administrator starts typing something, the link will be suggested and created automatically. The module supports all content entities. In Drupal 7, it used to be the CKEditor Link module.

• D8 Editor Advanced link

The D8 Editor Advanced link module gives a more sophisticated touch. With it, you can get link attributes, like Title, Class, ID, Target, and Rel.

• CKEditor Anchor Link

The CKEditor Anchor Link module is a good assistant for adding anchor links that have certain properties. You can add a link with a URL using multiple protocols.

To recap

Any Drupal 8 website can be enhanced with existing modules and plugins. For features that are not covered by available modules, custom functionality can be created. And here is one anchor link for you that will give you whatever assistance you need on these issues. That’s right, it links to Drudesk website support service. Cast your anchor here!