# HeadLink Templating Helper
> The HeadLink templating helper is an extension of the [Placeholder Templating Helper](./00_Placeholder.md)
The HTML `` element is increasingly used for linking a variety of resources for your site: stylesheets, feeds,
favicons, trackbacks, and more. The HeadLink helper provides a simple interface for creating and aggregating these
elements for later retrieval and output in your layout script.
The HeadLink helper has special methods for adding stylesheet links to its stack:
- `appendStylesheet($href, $media, $conditionalStylesheet, $extras)`
- `offsetSetStylesheet($index, $href, $media, $conditionalStylesheet, $extras)`
- `prependStylesheet($href, $media, $conditionalStylesheet, $extras)`
- `setStylesheet($href, $media, $conditionalStylesheet, $extras)`
The `$media` value defaults to `screen`, but may be any valid media value.
`$conditionalStylesheet` is a string or boolean `FALSE`, and will be used at rendering time to determine
if special comments should be included to prevent loading of the stylesheet on certain platforms.
`$extras` is an array of any extra values that you want to be added to the tag.
Additionally, the HeadLink helper has special methods for adding 'alternate' links to its stack:
- `appendAlternate($href, $type, $title, $extras)`
- `offsetSetAlternate($index, $href, $type, $title, $extras)`
- `prependAlternate($href, $type, $title, $extras)`
- `setAlternate($href, $type, $title, $extras)`
The `headLink()` helper method allows specifying all attributes necessary for a `` element,
and allows you to also specify placement -- whether the new element replaces all others, prepends (top of stack),
or appends (end of stack).
### Basic Usage
You may specify a headLink at any time.
Typically, you will specify global links in your layout script, and application specific links in your
application view scripts. In your layout script, in the `` section, you will then echo the helper to output it.
```php
headLink()->appendStylesheet('/styles/basic.css')
->headLink(['rel' => 'icon', 'href' => '/img/favicon.ico'], 'PREPEND')
->prependStylesheet('/styles/moz.css', 'screen', true, ['id' => 'my_stylesheet']);
?>
headLink() ?>
```