Posting Links
To post a link to a website you use the anchor tag <A>.
The main parameter you supply with this tag is the HREF parameter, which is the actual address of the website. For example, if I wanted to post a link to the site http://www.qgl.org, the anchor tag would look like this:

<A HREF="http://www.qgl.org">http://www.qgl.org</A>

The HREF parameter is the site to go to when the link is clicked. It must be surrounded by double quotes (") to work. The text in between the opening Anchor Tag <A> and the closing Anchor Tag </A> is the text that you will see on the screen, ie, what the link will say. You can put any text between the opening and closing tags and it will not effect where the link points to, so long as the HREF parameter stays the same. We could create a link to the same site as above using the following tag:

<A HREF="http://www.qgl.org">This is a link</A>

Even though we have changed the text in between the opening and closing tags, the HREF parameter is the same, therefore the link will still point to the same place when it is clicked. The first link would look like this on the page http://www.qgl.org whereas the second link would look like this This is a link. Notice how even though they look different on the page, they still point to the same site.

Another parameter which can be used in the <A> tag is the TARGET parameter. This parameter is optional and specifies the name of the web browser window that you want the page to open in. This parameter can be used in some rather advanced ways, but for now I will just explain its most common basic use; making a link open in a new window. What this means is that when you click on the link, rather than the linked page open in the current window, a new web browser window will be opened and the linked page will be opened in there instead. This is very useful as you can continue reading your current page and not lose your spot, while the linked page opens in a new window in the background :)

To use the TARGET parameter to open a page in a new window, the tag would look like this:

<A HREF="http://www.qgl.org" TARGET="_blank">http://www.qgl.org</A>

The only difference to a normal link is the addition of the TARGET="_blank" parameter. The value _blank tells the link to open in a new, blank window. Thats all there is too it!
You can also use anchor tags for email addresses, just simply put the email address in the tag as the HREF parameter, preceded by "mailto:". An example would be as follows:

<A HREF="mailto:user@domain.org">user@domain.org</A>

Notice how similiar it is to posting a link to a webpage? Its pretty much exactly the same. All the same rules apply, you just replace the HREF parameter with the email address with "mailto:" tacked on the front. The link would look like this user@domain.org. When the link is clicked it will open up your default email client and create a new message ready to send to the email address that was linked to.

awesome

Wish my work could access QGL.. :/ - Get back to work Hermy!

I'm betting despite the above someone f***s up a news.com.au link on the forum within 48 hours.

I'll take that bet and beat it by saying it'll happen within 12 hours.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,20546703-2,00.html
Did i do it right?

I think most "learn how to link n00b" problems come from people directly cutting and pasting URLs into their messages which are usually parsed to create links automatically, but for URLs to news reports on sites like abc news or news.com.au they usually have comma's which f*** up the link and cause it to finish early.

e.g. http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,20534170-13762,00.html

Most people just post it and forget it, not realising it's even broken, just assuming it worked.

I'm guessing there's no way the forums can be changed to ignore the comma? and make it not end the link?

Hrm yeh, trog - fix your forum please.

kthkbi.

can someone show me how to quote i think copy and paste doesnt have the same effect

<quote>Quoted Text Here</quote>

I actually looked at fixing it, but then decided commas have no place in URLs

Great post Hermi, added to the rules FAQ section.

I actually looked at fixing it, but then decided commas have no place in URLs

apparently they do

apparently they do

yes, and the only time you should use a comma to deliniate end-of-URL is when it is followed by a space.

I actually looked at fixing it, but then decided commas have no place in URLs

rfc1738 appears to disagree

apparently they do

yes, and the only time you should use a comma to deliniate end-of-URL is when it is followed by a space.

rfc1738 appears to disagree

I think you guys should take trog's comment even more seriously!

your mum should

Believe it or not I found an old page of html on an old and ancient backup disc while on holidays that I had saved from when I first joined up to QGL that Khel had written. All I did then was replace the < & the >

It's all 99% Khel, not me :(

haha
believe it... OR NOT!?!

just like ripley's believe it or not.
I don't find it too hard to believe.

hahah hermi I was going to say that, I've still got that page saved somewhere as well.

I even made trog add it to ausgamers once the big merge happened

rofl the edit page is blocked by my work, but qgl.org and qgl.ausforums.com isn't - well done IT!

anywho I was going to edit the above post and say I am still a newb anyway and make alot of errors, but it's kinda lost its effectiveness :/

I call for a sticky please

The other prob I have with this forum is having to log into another site just to edit my post.. like wtf?? or am i just doing something wrong?

EDIT: when I click edit at the bottom of my post it takes me to this page: http://network.ausgamers.com/?action=loaditem&itemid=2473717&forward=edititem&thisview=890

This forum has been one of the least user friendly forums I visit. I participate in this forum as I'm a local and went to some qgl lans in the past so it's interesting to keep tabs with everyone. Otherwise fix the comma linking thing and fix the "having to log into ausgamers network" just to edit a post please? :)

last edited by Marty at 11:55:36 10/Oct/06

i belive ". Otherwise fix the comma linking thing and fix the "having to log into ausgamers network" just to edit a post please? :" is being looked into (i think?)

the other one is a bit silly. no one likes to ready stupidly long links anyway. and the only problem we have with it are news links. and if your posting news on a forum, you should be atleast techsavy enough to fix the thing and to understand that http://www.news.com.au/?story=xy,148219,321,8978dfa.html isn't as descriptive as News Story About Migets!

If you're going to make a link called "news story about midgets!", could you at least link to a story about midgets rather than back to the forum.

where are the midgets?

Most Surreal Moment — Watching Marines arrive at my detention facility and unload a truck load of flex-cuffed midgets. 26 to be exact. We had put the word out earlier in the day to the Marines in Fallujah that we were looking for Bad Guy X, who was described as a midget. Little did I know that Fallujah was home to a small community of midgets, who banded together for support since they were considered as social outcasts. The Marines were anxious to get back to the midget colony to bring in the rest of the midget suspects, but I called off the search, figuring Bad Guy X was long gone on his short legs after seeing his companions rounded up by the giant infidels.

Stolen from Letter from Iraq

Most Surreal Moment - Watching Jim topple over his 4WD while out bush. You could sense the uneasyness as it was going up the small hill, the other 4WDs passed by without issue but the look on their faces, when seeing Jim, told unspeakeable truths about the impending doom.

Stolen from Letter from QGL

can't we just ban people who don't know how to link?

Nah commas have no place in URLs