Tips & Tricks No. 12 The Hyperlink

How to add or insert a link into a forum, blog, or web page can be one of the unsolved mysteries of the universe. First of all, a Hyperlink is written in a code that to most resembles Hieroglyphics. Then, each place has there own version of this secret code. Some use BB-code while others use pure HTML Code. Some don't allow links at all. And if you're expecting any Help, forget it, if you're not born knowing these thing you simply don't need to know and probably never will. Learning Latin could be easier.

This Blog uses pure HTML Code. So that actually makes it easier because you can now get free help from hundreds of places. An Internet Search for "html code" will go far. If you're starting a new post you do get some help on things, but, if you're adding a comment to a topic, you get no help at all and are lead to believe that links and stuff can't be done. Most of what can be done in a new post can also be done in a comment.

You could read this Help Article that The Blog has published.
http://help.blogger.com/bin/answer.py?answer=41379&topic=12507
Or you can continue to read this page.

You should start by going to the web page you want to link to and copying the URL so you can paste it here. That in itself is all you need to do. That is exactly what what I did for the above help link. Easy, simple, direct.

However, if you want a cleaner looking link, it gets more involved.
To create a link to: http://badlandsrpg.game-host.org/
that looks like: Qwildurn's DND Server
the code is: <a href="http://badlandsrpg.game-host.org/">Qwildurn's DND Server</a>

Let me break it down.
Every HTML code has an opening <b>and</b> closing statement, as in the <b>bold</b> statement.

A Hyper-Link is just a complex statement. It starts with an opening Anchor <a> and ends with the closing Anchor </a>

Now we need to give it more information. An Anchor can have more than just a Hyper-Link, but we will keep it simple (LMAO). As part of the opening statement, we will tell it we want a Hyperlink to a web page. HREF (Hyper Reference).

<a href= followed by the web page we want to link to in quotes "http://www.msn.com/" and a > to complete the opening statement.

Now, lets add in an easy to understand HUMAN style name such as MicroSoft and close it with </a>

If we did it correctly, our code should look like:
<a href="http://www.msn.com/">MicroSoft</a>
and our previewed/posted comment/post should look like:
MicroSoft
and clicking on it should take us there.