hyperlinks

November 17, 2011 8:57 PM

How do I make a hyperlink on an AskMefi post?

I see several people using hyperlinks on Metafilter that appear as yellow highlighted words; are they all using HTML to accomplish this?

posted by dthm42 to MetaFilter-Related at 8:57 PM (35 comments total)

that thing down there that says link in blue and underlined text. highlight the thing you want to be your link (in the text box) and then copy and paste your link into the window that pops up.
posted by DeltaZ113 at 9:00 PM on November 17, 2011 [1 favorite]

Awesome! Thanks Delta :)
posted by dthm42 at 9:04 PM on November 17, 2011

Just watch the video linked here in the FAQ. It should explain how to use the shortcut buttons.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 9:04 PM on November 17, 2011

And to answer your second question, yes— the link button is just an easy way to put the html hyperlink into your post without having to remember and type out the exact syntax yourself.
posted by hattifattener at 9:34 PM on November 17, 2011

I've always simply typed the html by hand. If we're discussing links though, we should mention the mystery meat typesetting algorithm : If word a w contains n letter but must embed k links, then you find x and y minimizing n - k x - (k ± 1) y = n - k (x+y) ± y, which you can solve easily form the integer division of n by k. Yummy mystery meat!
posted by jeffburdges at 10:30 PM on November 17, 2011 [2 favorites]

I use the link button most of the time, but doing it longhand isn't all that complex.

This Example is just <a href="http://www.example.com">This Example</a>
posted by Sys Rq at 10:41 PM on November 17, 2011

i write all my posts longhand on legal paper, mail them to quonsar, and in two to three weeks i get a letter back that has all the html i need to type. then i type that into the metafilter post-box and post!
posted by secret about box at 12:10 AM on November 18, 2011 [9 favorites]

Quonsar told me that I had to spell out all my posts in green M&Ms glued to rice paper with syrup, packed in styrofoam boxes, cushioned by mint-flavored cotton-candy, and kept cool with chilled microbrewery beer.

Godammit.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 12:28 AM on November 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

quonsar told me to go stick my head in a pig.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 1:08 AM on November 18, 2011 [4 favorites]

yeah sometimes i don't proofread the hyperlinks he writes in the reply, and well that's how deleted posts are made.
posted by secret about box at 1:14 AM on November 18, 2011 [2 favorites]

That's not how you make turducken.
posted by Sallyfur at 1:52 AM on November 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

There's a link button?
posted by nthdegx at 3:28 AM on November 18, 2011

I like doing it the old fashioned way. It's what I am used to, and my improperly formatted tags provide amusement for all.
posted by louche mustachio at 4:36 AM on November 18, 2011

Reading this thread feels like seeing what AskMe would be like without moderation.
posted by kitarra at 5:49 AM on November 18, 2011 [3 favorites]

LUXURY.

quonsar makes me write out my posts in my own blood, but each drop needs to come from a different wound. I then have to write them out with a quill made from my own hair and bones, on paper made from trees I have to bite down, and make the pulp with my own tears. I then have to take them to him by dragging myself down the broken glass highway, backwards, with one finger. Once I arrive, if the posts don't contain the exact number of typos he had in mind (arbitrarily decided) he shreds them in front of me and feeds them to his pantsfish.
posted by SpiffyRob at 6:16 AM on November 18, 2011 [6 favorites]

I'm sure this has been covered before, but why no auto-linkifying in comments? Obviously it wouldn't be 100% effective, but I would think a simple regex would cover 95%+ of cases where someone just drops in a copy-and-paste from the address bar of their browser.
posted by Doofus Magoo at 6:20 AM on November 18, 2011

Because we don't want to encourage people to dump bare urls into comments. A little bit of user education and cleanup about this so folks can figure out how to make proper links makes for more well-formed comments and less "can't be bothered, here's a quick paste" stuff.
posted by cortex (staff) at 6:32 AM on November 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

OPEN BRACK A SPACE HREF EQUALS QUOTE URL OH GOD I AM A DINOSAUR
posted by griphus at 6:39 AM on November 18, 2011

Funny, I could have sworn that this would be the part where cortex says "Well, I think I'm going to go ahead and close this one up."
posted by .kobayashi. at 6:40 AM on November 18, 2011

Reading this thread feels like seeing what AskMe would be like without moderation.

It descends to Lord of The Flies pretty quickly here sometimes.
posted by empath at 6:42 AM on November 18, 2011

Funny, I could have sworn that this would be the part where cortex says "Well, I think I'm going to go ahead and close this one up."

Now that's an act break. (Ukulele.)
posted by griphus at 6:49 AM on November 18, 2011

quonsar told me to go stick my head in a pig

I suspect that quonsar may be just the imp of the perverse.
posted by arcticseal at 6:58 AM on November 18, 2011

What do you think this is, griphus? A Lifetime Moment of Truth movie?
posted by SpiffyRob at 7:15 AM on November 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

It descends to Lord of The Flies pretty quickly here sometimes.'

I blame myself. I just like reading Mefi naked, covered in dirt and paint, armed with a wooden spear. Though, truth be told, in November in Wisconsin, the walk into work can be really cold.
posted by quin at 7:48 AM on November 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

I want to know how to make tiny type if we're allowed to ask those questions here! (There is no tiny type button I can see....)
posted by bquarters at 8:04 AM on November 18, 2011

Wrap the text you want to smallerize in <small>text goes here</small> tags.
posted by cortex (staff) at 8:10 AM on November 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

quonsar told me to smock off.
posted by quonsar II: smock fishpants and the temple of foon at 8:45 AM on November 18, 2011 [2 favorites]

I'm glad there wasn't a link buttoned when I joined. Learning how to make links in Metafilter was literally the first HTML I ever knew. The rest is history.
posted by alms at 8:55 AM on November 18, 2011 [2 favorites]

Wow, I've been here 7 years and only just now realized those highlighted yellow words can be "clicked" on and it will take you to like a whole other web page. Try it yourself!

I have to go back now and re-read some of my favorite MeFi posts, I bet I missed a bunch of great stuff!
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 9:12 AM on November 18, 2011 [2 favorites]

Thanks!! That's awesome to finally know! yahoo!
posted by bquarters at 9:15 AM on November 18, 2011

Huh...it's mostly pictures of people's cats...
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 9:16 AM on November 18, 2011 [4 favorites]

Wow, I've been here 7 years and only just now realized those highlighted yellow words can be "clicked" on and it will take you to like a whole other web page.

Highlighted yellow words?

Is this something I would have to be not using Professional White Background to understand?
posted by MexicanYenta at 10:02 AM on November 18, 2011

You know what, I don't know how it happened but CNTL i now italicises stuff, and that's cool. Looks like CTRL B bolds stuff too. That's nice. Maybe it's my browser, but I like it.
posted by b33j at 1:35 PM on November 18, 2011

Use the HTML "a" tag, but make sure you put this in the quotes:

http://i.imgur.com/PT8el.jpg
posted by Decani at 2:56 PM on November 18, 2011

"this in quotes".

Seriously, one of the best things about the hover zoom extension is links to popular image sites can be seen w/o you having to actually click on the highlighted yellow words. It is almost as good as having inline images.
posted by birdherder at 4:07 PM on November 18, 2011