How to post links on forum - fun and easy

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Countryside : One Thread

Hi folks, I just thought it might be beneficial to post a quick tutorial on how to put links into your posts so that they are "clickable." That is, so that they look like "Click here for a great website" instead of:

http://www.countrysidemag.com/links.htm

To "activate" your link is really very simple. Here's how to break it down:

Step 1. Find the link that you want to put in your post. The easiest way to do this is to simply go to the website in question (let's say it's the countryside website) and copy the address out of the address bar at the top of your browser. (Do this by hilighting the address and then hitting "Ctrl C" on your keyboard.)

Step 2. When you are ready to put the address in your post, type the following first:

<a href="

Then, after the quotes, paste your link. (Ctrl V on your keyboard)

After doing so, your link will look like this:

<a href="http://www.countrysidemag.com

Then, add this to it:

">click here </a>

So, when you are done, your link should look like this:

<a href="http://www.countrysidemag.com">click here </a>

Then, when you post your message, it will show up like this:

click here

If you need to know HOW this works, it's really pretty simple.

the letter "A" stands for "anchor" in html code. Which is another word for link. All html code has to be enclosed in these <> brackets so that the browser knows it is a command. Most commands have an opening side and a closing side.

The opening command, then, for an anchor is <a> and the closing command is </a>

All that's left is to:

A. specify the actual URL to anchor to, and

B. tell it what text to actually display as the link

This is done by the href="url goes here" inside the command, and

the text between the opening and closing sides of the command tells the computer what text to actually display.

This technique is extremely helpful when the URL you are recommending is especially long, since a URL that wraps many lines can easily get munged when copied and pasted.

I apologize if this insults anyone's intelligence, just trying to make everyone's forum experience as nice as possible. Try it! don't be afraid!

-- Chuck (woah@mission4me.com), January 13, 2002

Answers

Thank you for taking the time to teach.

-- paul (primrose@centex.net), January 13, 2002.



-- diane (
gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), January 13, 2002.

well, guess I had better go to the practice forum and practice :>)

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), January 13, 2002.

click here trying again

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), January 13, 2002.

oh my goodness, I actually did it........!!!!!

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), January 13, 2002.


Chuck- Is there any way to do this for email so if I wanted to use a web page in my sig file it would show up nice and neat like that instead of a long name? I know the programs recognize it as a clickable link but it looks so messy. Thanks so much for teaching this stuff it is so nice to know.

-- Trisha-MN (coldguinea@netscape.net), January 13, 2002.

Thank-you,Chuck. I'm a beginner with a computer. I copied this off so I can do it at a later date.I'm glad to have this infro.

Ray The Farm

-- Ray (thecfarm@midmaine.com), January 13, 2002.


The way to do it in email is to make sure that the email is formatted in HTML and then follow the above instructions.

To make your email formatted in html, using Outlook or outlook express, (the ones many people use) go to the "format" menu at the top of your message and then choose from the drop down list "html". or, press the following keys: alt o h Hope this helps,

Chuck

-- Chuck (woah@mission4me.com), January 13, 2002.


Is there anyway to preview the post before the submission? It'd be nice to make sure the link works before sending it off.

-- Darren (df1@infi.net), January 13, 2002.

The only way to preview your post is to post it first in the HTML Test forum, found here.

-- chuck in md (woah@mission4me.com), January 13, 2002.


While we certainly don't mind people including links in their threads, I may start deleting those who don't explain what will be found at that link. Someone shouldn't have to go to a link blind.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), January 14, 2002.

good thought Ken, I don't like to go someplace blind. The one I did for my test was just another thread that I had visited here, but if I do one in the future I will certainly try and remember to tell what it is.

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), January 14, 2002.

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