# At the SDMB, how do I get to name hyperlinks like I used to? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 31, 2008, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-the-sdmb-how-do-i-get-to-name-hyperlinks-like-i-used-to/470467 "2008-10-31T17:48:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wakinyan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wakinyan/32/352_2.png) [@Wakinyan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wakinyan)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2008, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-the-sdmb-how-do-i-get-to-name-hyperlinks-like-i-used-to/470467/1 "2008-10-31T17:48:20Z")
Before, when choosing **Insert link** in the Message field’s toolbar, you were presented a field where you could **1)** add the URL, click OK and then another field, in which you could **2)** write whatever you’d like, and then **3)** click OK. This allowed you to create a hyperlink called whatever you liked to. Some dopers can do this today too, but I can’t. When I klick **Insert link** while writing this for instance, I get **Please enter the URL for this link** dialog box, but when I click OK, I don’t get to choose what to call it, like I used to up until a few months ago I think, but are thrown back to the Message field with an URL. How do I get to name my links like I used to? ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2008, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-the-sdmb-how-do-i-get-to-name-hyperlinks-like-i-used-to/470467/2 "2008-10-31T17:52:22Z")
I always just do it by hand. You just type: {url=[http://www.yoururlhere.com](http://www.yoururlhere.com)}Your text here{/url} using square brackets instead of curly ones, and you get: [Your text here](http://www.yoururlhere.com) ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2008, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-the-sdmb-how-do-i-get-to-name-hyperlinks-like-i-used-to/470467/3 "2008-10-31T17:52:43Z")
I don’t either. I can’t get it to work. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2008, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-the-sdmb-how-do-i-get-to-name-hyperlinks-like-i-used-to/470467/4 "2008-10-31T17:53:24Z")
[urI=“[www.straightdope.com](http://www.straightdope.com)”]Straightdope[/urI] Becomes Straightdope ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2008, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-the-sdmb-how-do-i-get-to-name-hyperlinks-like-i-used-to/470467/5 "2008-10-31T17:56:01Z")
> [@Wakinyan](#): > > Before, when choosing **Insert link** in the Message field’s toolbar, you were presented a field where you could **1)** add the URL, click OK and then another field, in which you could **2)** write whatever you’d like, and then **3)** click OK. This allowed you to create a hyperlink called whatever you liked to. > > Some dopers can do this today too, but I can’t. When I klick **Insert link** while writing this for instance, I get **Please enter the URL for this link** dialog box, but when I click OK, I don’t get to choose what to call it, like I used to up until a few months ago I think, but are thrown back to the Message field with an URL. > > How do I get to name my links like I used to? I believe you have to type the “name” part by hand. So click Insert Link, hit OK, and then type the name after the first ]. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2008, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-the-sdmb-how-do-i-get-to-name-hyperlinks-like-i-used-to/470467/6 "2008-10-31T17:56:32Z")
> [@Wakinyan](#): > > Before, when choosing **Insert link** in the Message field’s toolbar, you were presented a field where you could **1)** add the URL, click OK and then another field, in which you could **2)** write whatever you’d like, and then **3)** click OK. This allowed you to create a hyperlink called whatever you liked to. > > Some dopers can do this today too, but I can’t. When I klick **Insert link** while writing this for instance, I get **Please enter the URL for this link** dialog box, but when I click OK, I don’t get to choose what to call it, like I used to up until a few months ago I think, but are thrown back to the Message field with an URL. > > How do I get to name my links like I used to? When you do this, the text that appears in the reply box is partly highlighted. Type your link name there. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2008, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-the-sdmb-how-do-i-get-to-name-hyperlinks-like-i-used-to/470467/7 "2008-10-31T17:58:27Z")
Type what you want the [hyperlink to say](http://209.104.5.198/sdmb/showthread.php?t=490513)and then highlight it and click on the Insert Link tool. Paste in the address and you have a link with a name. Jim ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2008, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-the-sdmb-how-do-i-get-to-name-hyperlinks-like-i-used-to/470467/8 "2008-10-31T18:01:51Z")
**elmwood** comments on this in [post #15](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=481383), like so: > [@](#): > > It’s a feature, not a bug. The editor works more like a word processor; highlight the text, and apply the color, add a URL, change the typeface, ro (_sic_) whatever. I enter the URL, click ‘ok’, delete the already highlighted text, and type in something like ‘post #15’ as a descriptor. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2008, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-the-sdmb-how-do-i-get-to-name-hyperlinks-like-i-used-to/470467/9 "2008-10-31T18:03:03Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > Type what you want the [hyperlink to say](http://209.104.5.198/sdmb/showthread.php?t=490513)and then highlight it and click on the Insert Link tool. Paste in the address and you have a link with a name. > > Jim Didn’t know about this. _makes note_ ---
**Author:** ![Wakinyan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wakinyan/32/352_2.png) [@Wakinyan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wakinyan)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2008, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-the-sdmb-how-do-i-get-to-name-hyperlinks-like-i-used-to/470467/10 "2008-10-31T18:27:09Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > Type what you want the [hyperlink to say](http://209.104.5.198/sdmb/showthread.php?t=490513)and then highlight it and click on the Insert Link tool. Paste in the address and you have a link with a name. > > Jim Thank you (and everybody else). ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2008, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-the-sdmb-how-do-i-get-to-name-hyperlinks-like-i-used-to/470467/11 "2008-10-31T20:03:16Z")
When I use the insert link button without selecting text first, it generates the default link caption as the URL itself. This is selected, so it’s replaced when I just start typing the caption I want. This is actually kind of slick, and it’s better than the previous implementation. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2008, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-the-sdmb-how-do-i-get-to-name-hyperlinks-like-i-used-to/470467/12 "2008-10-31T20:14:17Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > Type what you want the [hyperlink to say](http://209.104.5.198/sdmb/showthread.php?t=490513)and then highlight it and click on the Insert Link tool. Paste in the address and you have a link with a name. It has actually always worked like that, although before, you first got a window with the text. That text defaulted to the highlighted text in your post. If you hit OK it went to the next window with the URL. ---
**Author:** ![jali](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecae2f/32.png) [@jali](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jali)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2008, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-the-sdmb-how-do-i-get-to-name-hyperlinks-like-i-used-to/470467/13 "2008-10-31T20:47:11Z")
Thanks all. Wait until it’s time to post my next link. I’ll open a thread asking where this thread might be. (not really)