What Does It Matter Which Http:// We Use?

When making a hyperlink, why do I have to delete the second http:// and keep the first to make it work? They’re the same and the second one is the one which is actually the one which takes you to the linked page.

Thanks

Q

I don’t quite understand what you mean by the “second” ‘http://’, but I guess the problem you have with inserting hyperlinks is that the board software adds the ‘http://’ by default to the input box, which can lead to broken links if the URL is pasted including another ‘http://’. The easy solution for me is that I copy the complete URL of the site I want to link to, open the “insert link” box, right-click on the highlighted ‘http://’ and paste my URL, thus overwriting it and creating a valid link.

Yes, EH, that was what I meant. :smack:

Thanks

Q

Never heard of that. Let’s try it.
Insert link. Delete first http and keep the second

http://www.straightdope.com/

hit submit

Now try again, keep the first and delete the second
http://www.straightdope.com/

Seems to work either way round.

When I do it, I get the message that “IE cannot open this page…”

However, when I clicked on both of YOURS, everything worked as it should have, Peter.

This is also true for whatever I link to in my blog. In the instructions for a link, they say to be sure to keep the FIRST http://, and when I do it works that way. When I leave the first one off (delete it), it doesn’t.

Thanks

Q

Quasi, can you please post a link you created in the way in which it didn’t work in IE? Then maybe we can tell by the code what is going wrong.

test

test

Sorry, I can’t get it to repeat, guys but it’s mostly when I post pictures.

test

test

I swear, guys! I get that IE cannot open page message whenever I do a hyperlink and don’t use the first http. I don’t know why it doesn’t repeat now.

Sorry to waste your time EH & Co.:frowning:

Quasi

Those links all work for me, in IE as well as in Firefox. If one of them doesn’t work on your machine, then maybe something is wrong with your browser settings. Here’s a non-working test link that can be created by wrongly pasting the URL. Maybe you can check whether your non-working links look similar:

test (code looks like this: [noparse]http://http://www.straightdope.com/[/noparse])

P.S.: Don’t worry, if I thought this was a waste of time, I wouldn’t do it. :slight_smile:

Too late to edit: I have yet another idea: Go to a page on your blog with one of those non-working links, right-click on it and choose ‘Copy link’ or ‘Copy address’, reply here and paste the copied link to that post.

>> When making a hyperlink, why do I have to delete the second http:// and keep the first to make it work?

In the example you posted with 2 HTTPs you may notice that they aren’t the same. Only one colon was retained. Ignoring the protocol (the http:// bit) “www.straightdope.com” is a valid site. “http//www.straightdope.com” is not.

As to why you end up with two http segments? I’m not sure. Probably whatever automated helpful agent is in place is being overly helpful :slight_smile:

The links with “http://” do not work in Opera, or at least not on my computer. It’s possible some browsers filter the extra one out, but it’s best to delete everything in the box where you put the link, then paste the link. Or just paste over the first one.

Is there any way for vbulletin to have an empty link box? It would probably cut down these problems.