# Complete Idiot Needs Linking Help **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [May 9, 2002, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complete-idiot-needs-linking-help/108089 "2002-05-09T15:01:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2002, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complete-idiot-needs-linking-help/108089/1 "2002-05-09T15:01:20Z")
OK. I want to link to a web site in a thread. But I don’t want to just highlight and paste [http://www.lincolncenter.org/search/results.asp?session=CC9FF454-D7A2-40C6-AE2D-E770BE702D17&version=&ws=&bc=5&hdnSearchType=Program&hdnPageNumber=0&txtKeyword=&cboGenreID=0&cboProgramID=5&cboCompanyID=&hdnWebscriberID=&cboEventID=&cboStartDate=&cboEndDate=1/1/2010](http://www.lincolncenter.org/search/results.asp?session=CC9FF454-D7A2-40C6-AE2D-E770BE702D17&version=&ws=&bc=5&hdnSearchType=Program&hdnPageNumber=0&txtKeyword=&cboGenreID=0&cboProgramID=5&cboCompanyID=&hdnWebscriberID=&cboEventID=&cboStartDate=&cboEndDate=1/1/2010) from the address thingie. I want to rewrite it so it reads “Midsummer Swing Schedule” but is still clickable. I know there must be a breezy, easy way to do this, as everyone but me seems to know how. Can someonme enlighten me—in a way that a backwards five-year-old on Nyquill could understand? ---
**Author:** ![Why\_A\_Duck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/13edae/32.png) [@Why\_A\_Duck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Why_A_Duck)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2002, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complete-idiot-needs-linking-help/108089/2 "2002-05-09T15:05:39Z")
Try this: [\*\*\*\*url=http://www.lincolncenter.org/search/results.asp?session=CC9FF454-D7A2-40C6-AE2D-E770BE702D17&version=&ws=&bc=5&hdnSearchType=Program&hdnPageNumber=0&txtKeyword=&cboGenreID=0&cboProgramID=5&cboCompanyID=&hdnWebscriberID=&cboEventID=&cboStartDate=&cboEndDate=1/1/2010]Midsummer Swing Schedule or more generically: [\*\*\*\*url=(put http:// stuff here)](Put fun text here) That is one hell of a URL. ---
**Author:** ![Why\_A\_Duck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/13edae/32.png) [@Why\_A\_Duck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Why_A_Duck)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2002, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complete-idiot-needs-linking-help/108089/3 "2002-05-09T15:07:27Z")
Your link would look like: [Midsummer Swing Schedule](http://www.lincolncenter.org/search/results.asp?session=CC9FF454-D7A2-40C6-AE2D-E770BE702D17&version=&ws=&bc=5&hdnSearchType=Program&hdnPageNumber=0&txtKeyword=&cboGenreID=0&cboProgramID=5&cboCompanyID=&hdnWebscriberID=&cboEventID=&cboStartDate=&cboEndDate=1/1/2010) Good luck! ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2002, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complete-idiot-needs-linking-help/108089/4 "2002-05-09T15:19:47Z")
Wait a minute. When did they take out the requirement for quotes around the URL? With the new board software? Anyway, oops, my bad. Carry on. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2002, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complete-idiot-needs-linking-help/108089/5 "2002-05-09T15:29:01Z")
[takes another swig of Nyquill]. I am still baffled. OK, I start out with a long string of letters and numbers with “” and “” on either side of it. How do I get that to read “Midsummer Night Swing” and still be clickable? You tech people seem to always forget that THE REST OF US DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT. Can you take me through this, easy step by easy step? Hell, I’m still trying to figure out the office microwave oven . . . ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2002, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complete-idiot-needs-linking-help/108089/6 "2002-05-09T15:45:51Z")
Simple process: 1. Save the link (with MSIE, you can just highlight it in the Address bar and hit Ctrl-C to save it). 2. Go to post. 3. Type in the string [ url=" 4. Hit Ctrl-V to paste in the link. 5. Type in the string " ] 6. Type in the text you want to use to refer to the link: “this site,” “John’s post in this thread,” or whatever. 7. Type in the string [/url] Obviously, omit the spaces I put in. (I posted this once without the spaces, thinking I had “parse urls” turned off, and got lines 4-5 appearing to be an URL of which lines 6 and 7 were the link. Would a moderator please delete that version? ---
**Author:** ![Wisest\_Novel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wisest_novel/32/13329_2.png) [@Wisest\_Novel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wisest_Novel)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2002, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complete-idiot-needs-linking-help/108089/7 "2002-05-09T15:53:10Z")
Eve, you are no idiot, as anyone here for more than a day understands. Perhaps this breakdown will help, though. The sequence is: 1. A left square bracket: **[** 2. The beginning of the command. Specifically, **url=** 3. The URL. In this case, I’ll use **[http://www.google.com](http://www.google.com)** because it’s short and easy. Usually, you’re pasting this from your clipboard. 4. A right square bracket: **]** 5. The text you want to appear in the link. Here I’ll use **Google is your friend** , 'cause so many people here are fond of saying that. 6. The end of the command. \*\*\*\* Whole thing looks like **[Google is your friend](http://www.google.com)** in the reply box and like [Google is your friend](http://www.google.com) in the post. ---
**Author:** ![Wisest\_Novel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wisest_novel/32/13329_2.png) [@Wisest\_Novel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wisest_Novel)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2002, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complete-idiot-needs-linking-help/108089/8 "2002-05-09T15:59:35Z")
Well, fie. **Polycarp** not only answered before me, he had time to answer twice before me. I gotta get typing lessons. Sorry. Oh, and as has been noted before, the quotes around the URL are no longer required in VB codes, but they don’t do any harm, either. ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2002, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complete-idiot-needs-linking-help/108089/9 "2002-05-09T16:04:17Z")
(I hope this doesn’t sound patronising, and I apologise if it does; I’m just trying to explain the structure of the command). Think about the what **Wisest Novel** wrote. Effectively you want to get that text on everyone’s screen. You don’t want it to be treated like ‘normal’ text, but as a link to another web page. The solution is to mark that piece of text as different to normal text. The board software is set up so that you can do this by marking up the particular passage of text using opening and closing tags. In other words, telling the software where to begin treating that passage differently and when to stop treating it differently. That’s what the bits in square brackets do. Anything between those tags will be treated differently. The **url=** tells the software _how_ to treat this passage differently – in this case indicating a web link (as opposed to, say, using **b** to indicate bold text). If you put the opening and closing tags at either end of the web address it will display it as you typed it. If you put the web address inside the opening tag, after the equals sign, it’s effectively ‘hiding’ the address inside the tag, but the board software knows that whatever text you do type between the closing tags should be used as a ‘caption’ for the hidden link. ---
**Author:** ![Humble\_Servant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/47e85d/32.png) [@Humble\_Servant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Humble_Servant)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2002, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complete-idiot-needs-linking-help/108089/10 "2002-05-09T16:06:58Z")
When you preview, you can click on the link you’ve made to be sure you did it right before posting. So, go ahead and give it a try. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2002, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complete-idiot-needs-linking-help/108089/11 "2002-05-09T16:23:55Z")
OK, I am going to try it here. The one thing I’m unclear about is when you say, “Type in the text you want to use to refer to the link: “this site,” “John’s post in this thread,” or whatever,” WHERE do I type it, and what do I have to eliminate to make room for it? Let’s give it a try . . . [Midsummer Night Swing schedule](http://www.lincolncenter.org/search/results.asp?session=CC9FF454-D7A2-40C6-AE2D-E770BE702D17&version=&ws=&bc=5&hdnSearchType=Program&hdnPageNumber=0&txtKeyword=&cboGenreID=0&cboProgramID=5&cboCompanyID=&hdnWebscriberID=&cboEventID=&cboStartDate=&cboEndDate=1/1/2010) Did that work? ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2002, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complete-idiot-needs-linking-help/108089/12 "2002-05-09T16:25:36Z")
Zowie!! It worked! Thanks, all. —Professor Hinkley ---
**Author:** ![Why\_A\_Duck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/13edae/32.png) [@Why\_A\_Duck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Why_A_Duck)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2002, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complete-idiot-needs-linking-help/108089/13 "2002-05-09T16:29:46Z")
And thus began a life of linking, the likes of which this great Metropolis had not seen since the Hoover administration. congrats Eve! ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2002, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complete-idiot-needs-linking-help/108089/14 "2002-05-09T18:15:24Z")
I made a grievous mistake. When attempting to delete a double post by Scarlett67, I mistakenly deleted a non-duplicate post. However, while I was frantically trying to unpress the button :rolleyes: (why doesn’t my mouse have an “unclick” function?) I noticed that since the board was slow I had time to copy and paste the immortal wisdom contained in that post. So I reproduce i below for your viewing pleasure. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Scarlett67 \* > Not quite – you want to put quotes around the URL, like this (remove spaces): > > [url=“[http://www.yadda.com](http://www.yadda.com)” ]The Yadda Page ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2002, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complete-idiot-needs-linking-help/108089/15 "2002-05-09T18:20:31Z")
Dang, **Arnold,** you mean you removed my idiotic advice and then PUT IT BACK??!? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Why\_A\_Duck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/13edae/32.png) [@Why\_A\_Duck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Why_A_Duck)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2002, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complete-idiot-needs-linking-help/108089/16 "2002-05-09T18:22:14Z")
That noise you just heard was sound of my belief that SDMB admins never make mistakes shattering like so much stained glass. What’s a poor duck to do? ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2002, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complete-idiot-needs-linking-help/108089/17 "2002-05-09T18:24:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Polycarp \* > I posted this once without the spaces, thinking I had “parse urls” turned off, and got lines 4-5 appearing to be an URL … Polycarp, turning off “Automatically parse URLs” means that the software will not insert and around a link that you type in without the url tags. But if you explicitly include those tags in your post, they will be used even if **Automatically parse URLS** is not checked. Example: in this post I unchecked “Automatically parse URLs”. This line will not appear as a link [http://www.straightdope.com](http://www.straightdope.com) but this one will since I manually typed in the url tags: [http://www.straightdope.com](http://www.straightdope.com) Eve: you’re well on your way to becoming a webmaster. Now go start reading HTML books instead of those soft-core “romances” that are cluttering your bookshelf. ---
**Author:** ![donkeyoatey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47c2d/32.png) [@donkeyoatey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/donkeyoatey)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2002, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complete-idiot-needs-linking-help/108089/18 "2002-05-09T18:35:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Arnold Winkelried \* > \*\*. So I reproduce i below for your viewing pleasure. > > \*\* Hey, I’m eating Ichiban cuppa soup here. It’s not as tasty when you have to pull it out of your nose.😛 ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2002, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complete-idiot-needs-linking-help/108089/19 "2002-05-09T18:52:26Z")
C’mon, we all know what **Eve** has on her bookshelf – the inside dirt on every Hollywood star since the Gish sisters were child-star phenoms! (And the more readable of them are author’s copies, since she **wrote** them!) 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2002, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complete-idiot-needs-linking-help/108089/20 "2002-05-09T20:09:30Z")
“Eve: you’re well on your way to becoming a webmaster.” Webmistress, please! Mmm . . . I sound like one of Spiderman’s arch-enemies. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complete-idiot-needs-linking-help/108089.md?page=2)