Posting links to websites, etc.

[Old Sparky]

Last evening, when posting a link to www.manuals-in-pdf.com  I inadvertently left the 'http;' in place and, when I checked the link, an errror message 'unable to find 'http;' appeared, with no reference to the rest of the URL.  A similar thing happened some years ago, when, on UKVRRR, I was posting a link to Vintage-Parts.com, I typed www.markhindes-easywebstore.com  which wasn't recognized because I included the 'www' in the link.  I presume the reason for these links not working is because the terms 'http;' and, in some cases, 'www', aren't included in the URL, but, as all websites are on the WorldWideWeb, wouldn't it be simpler if the 'www' was  always included?

[Old Sparky]

Just to prove my point, the Vintage-parts.com link I provided in my firsy post is  incorrect It should be http://markhindes.easywebstore.co.uk  Hopefully this one works OK.  Pity there isn't a standard way to insert a link to any and all websites. Mods, can you please correct the link in my ,post above, as I seemingly can't do this in 'edit mode'

[Refugee]

That is exactly why I test web links from the preview pane in the forum software as many forums have the software configured to add the WWW. or HTTP// automatically so that you can end up with two WWW.s or HTTP//s in the URL.
It is easy to check from the preview screen and the back button should get you back to your text.

[ppppenguin]

I've never undestood why some websites don't have a www, with the site name follwoing directly after the http://

[Mark Hennessy]

The problem is that you're using a semi-colon, not a colon. It should be:

Code:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/

Not:

Code:

http;//www.bbc.co.uk/

This gave me a sense of deja-vu - http://golbornevintageradio.co.uk/forum/...p?tid=5073  

Now, it can be hard to tell the difference between the two, especially with some fonts, so it might be worth "zooming" your display if in doubt.

Basically, the "http" means "hyper-text transfer protocol". It tells the browser what to expect. You might have seen "ftp" instead of "http" occasionally - there are others...

The colon separates that from the parameter - the address itself. The two forward slashes say something like "this is an absolute address", and then the address itself follows. Of course, the address is turned into numbers by a protocol called DNS, so the computer actually goes here:

Code:

http://212.58.246.55/

Though numbers often change, so that might stop working in the future.

As to the "www" bit...

Essentially, that's just convention - the first part can be anything you like, but it makes sense to use "www" because that's what everyone else uses. But there are plenty of exceptions. A lot of websites actually work fine if you omit the "www". Others don't work if you do include it. For a full explanation, you'd have to read up about how DNS works - which is OK at first, but quickly because a bit of beast

For completeness, it's worth saying that everything after the domain name refers to resources on that machine. For example:

Code:

http://markhennessy.uk/audax/construction.htm

Here, "audax" is a directory on my web server, and "construction.htm" is a file within that directory.

Note that omitting the "www" works here, and there is no ".co" because I've paid to register "markhennessy.uk" in addition to "markhennessy.co.uk". For what that's worth...

Often a web address ends with a slash:

Code:

http://markhennessy.uk/guestbook/sign/

Here, a path is given, but no file is specified. So what happens is the web server looks in the "guestbook/sign" directory for "index.htm", "index.html", "index.php" - and no-doubt others as well. An error message - or a directory listing - might be returned if no suitable file is found.

This means I can give out addresses that look less messy - no fiddly .htm at the end. Eventually, I'll move all pages on my site to this format. It just means creating lots of directories with index.htm in them, rather than fewer directories with multiple .htm files within. This approach is also more "search-engine friendly", apparently. For what that's worth...

BTW, my guestbook is looking a bit thin these days - please feel free to sign it

All the best,

Mark

[Old Sparky]

Oh, dear! Blame either my memory or my eyesight, possibly both, for putting http;//, instead of http:// !! I started this thread because, at a fairly late hour yesterday evening, I had to rewrite a post quoting a link to Manuals-in-Pdf, due to the inclusion of 'http:// causing the link not to work. If I could have just carried out a 'quick edit' and corrected ny mistake in about 30 seconds. No doubt it's something in the forum softwars which prevents this from being done.

[Mark Hennessy]

Honestly, don't worry!

I spotted the link in the post last night, and as the edit window had passed, I corrected it for you.

All users have 20 minutes available to make edits to their posts. After that, only mods can make changes...

The easiest way to include a link is to copy and paste it from your browser. If you click once somewhere on the address at the top of your browser, it should become highlighted. At that point, you can press Ctrl+C to copy it. Then you can switch to the tab with the forum message, and paste it into the message by pressing Ctrl+V.

If you prefer, right-click with the mouse to do copy/paste operations...

(Apologies as always if that is teaching egg-sucking!)

[Terry]

I'm puzzled as to how you are inserting your links.

If you click on the internet link icon you are prompted by http:// if you are using the default editing mode, ready for you to complete the link.

If you are copying the full link - for example, by highlighting the link in the address bar, right clicking and selecting copy - you won't need this as it is already included in your link, so highlight it before pasting your link.

If you opt to edit your posts in BB Code mode, the http:// prompt doesn't appear - just post the full link.

[Old Sparky]

I usually insert links by clcking on the link icon, and occasionally get these 'glitches', where the link doesn't work!