Adding clickable links to posts

[Mark Thomas]

From time to time, members have asked how to add clickable links to posts. Here's a quick tutorial:

1. Write your post as normal and add any web address which you want to include. If the address begins with "www" you don't need to add the "http://" prefix, although it'll do no harm if you do. You do need to add it if the address doesn't begin with "www":



2. To make the link clickable, highlight it and then click the globe button, second from the left on the middle row of buttons in the toolbar above the composition window. If you hover your mouse over the button, you'll see a label saying "Insert Hyperlink":



3. Hey presto! Your link now has snippets of code either side of it which, when the post is displayed, will make the link clickable:



4. To hide a link behind a piece of text, write your message, but don't add the link. Highlight the word which you want to make into a link, in this case the word "here":



5. Then press the same "globe" button. Your chosen word will be enclosed by the code snippets in square brackets. Place your cursor after the first "url" within the first set of brackets and type "=" followed by your link:



That's it! When you Post your message the word will be a link and clicking on it will take the reader to your linked page. It's always worth clicking the "Preview" button before you post a message, just to make sure that everything works as you intend it to.

The other buttons in the toolbar work in the same way, adding bold, italics, underlining etc. is just as simple and, if not overused, can add structure and visual interest to a post.