Safe SEF link to menu item

Question

When creating a link to a menu item inside an article or module, my first thought is to use the menu item alias and make the link like this:

<a href="/contact">Contact us</a>

The problem is that this link might break for a series of reasons:

• .htaccess is not enabled (requires the link to include "index.php")
• The alias changes (e.g. to "contact-us")
• The menu item is moved to a different level or to another parent (e.g. to "/about/contact")
• Joomla is moved to a subfolder (e.g "/joomla/contact")

How can I safely link to a menu item?

Answer 1

The solution is quite simple:

Instead of using the alias, create a link with the menu item ID:

<a href="index.php?Itemid=XX">Contact us</a>

where XX is the ID of your menu item. The ID can be found in the menu item manager:

The link will automatically be converted to the correct URL, regardless of the menu item alias, location etc.