Xcode / iOS6 / UIWebView URL / HTML links do not work - ios6

Question

After looking through numerous Stack Overflow posts, I was unable to find a solution to my problem. If I am asking a question that has already been answered elsewhere, kindly give me a nod in the right direction.
And, please, don't be too harsh on me if I might be using the wrong terminology, as I am still kind of new to mobile development.
Problem: All I am trying to do is click a link in a local web page that gets pulled up in a UIWebView. Currently, nothing happens when I click a link, aside from a brief flash of the current page.
This is where I'm at:
1) When the application loads, I show a web view which displays a "local" web page (that's part of my xcode project). So far, so good.
2) When the end user clicks an item (geographical regions in my case, represented by a flag), additional content becomes visible, including a couple of links, leading to "external" web apges, such as wikipedia and a map web site.
3) Most of my little web app is in the web page I show when the application has loaded. I use JavaScript, HTML and CSS to provide most of the functionality (since I already have a web site that does exactly what it is supposed to do).
4) However, being able to link to other web sites from my start page is crucial.
(If you think this is poor design, I'll accept that. Suggestions for better approaches are always welcome; HOWEVER, I do need to solve my current problem before I can restructure my code. Please bear with me.)
Here's the code that brings up the initial web page:
// View Controller.h
// ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>
#interface ViewController : UIViewController
#property (strong, nonatomic) IBOutlet UIWebView *spfWebView;
#end
// ViewController.m
// ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
#import "ViewController.h"
#interface ViewController ()
#end
#implementation ViewController
#synthesize spfWebView;
- (void)viewDidLoad{
[super viewDidLoad];
//Web Site within XCode Project:
NSURL *url = [NSURL fileURLWithPath:[[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:#"www/index" ofType:#"html"] isDirectory:NO];
//NSURL *url = [NSURL URLWithString:urlString];
NSURLRequest *request = [NSURLRequest requestWithURL:url];
NSOperationQueue *queue = [[NSOperationQueue alloc] init];
[NSURLConnection sendAsynchronousRequest:request queue:queue
completionHandler:^(NSURLResponse *response, NSData *data, NSError *error) {
if ( [data length] > 0 && error == nil ){
[spfWebView loadRequest:request];
}else if (error != nil){
NSLog(#"Error: %#", error);
}
}];
}
- (void)didReceiveMemoryWarning{
[super didReceiveMemoryWarning];
// Dispose of any resources that can be recreated.
}
- (BOOL)shouldAutorotateToInterfaceOrientation:(UIInterfaceOrientation)interfaceOrientation{
return (interfaceOrientation != UIInterfaceOrientationPortraitUpsideDown);
}
#end
So in my web page, I am using standard, normal a href links to point to wikipedia, for example, like so (I had to use spaces in the href part to avoid SO from interpreting it as a link, since I only wanted to show you the code for the link):
Wikipedia
And, as I've mentioned, the page just sits there when I click or tap the link. The page seems to reload briefly and flashes on the screen, but that's all I see.
Any ideas anyone?

Answer 1

After additional searching and finally finding some really great information here on SO and a couple of external links, I now see how naive my original question was. It turns out there is more to it than meets the eye.
I wanted a quick fix for a problem that requires a bit more work than I realized.
The most important things I have learned are:
(1) A UIWebView is not necessarily the same as a web browser.
(2) In a UIWebView, you can display web content, yes, but you have to address page clicks separately, within XCode.
(3) If you are planing on running your web app on HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript, inside a UIWebView, you can do a lot, but you might have to learn about making the UIWebView a delegate to itself, opening additional views, etc.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The lessons I have learned come primarily from the following sources:
Clicking a link in UIWebView pushes onto the NavigationView stack
iPhone UIWebView - Open new UIWebView Controller from a hyperlink
UIWebView Link Click
Calling methods from links in a UIWebView
Open a link in a UIWebView
Open iOS6 Apple Maps app from a link in a UIWebView
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So right now, I am refactoring my little phone app, but if anyone has some additional insights as far as making UIWebView links work (in an easy and up-to-date manner), please add your comments, and I will try and implement them into this post.