Could anyone please explain how to insert a hyperlink into a reply, and how to format text with bold, italics, etc? Do you write your response in another application and then paste it in or something? If so, what applications would you recommend using (i.e. MS Word, Front Page, etc?)

Thanks.

-- Clyde (clydeblalock@hotmail.com), July 11, 1999

Answers

The following instructions are for people who want to create an indented hotlink in a post to this forum. It's fairly simple to do but you must be able to follow these instructions precisely. This is not intended as a general purpose guide to using HTML (the 'language' of the web). If you simply copy and save the template below, then modify and paste it when you need it, you should be able to create hotlinks without too much trouble. To include an indented hotlink, copy and save the template below:

<blockquote>
<a href="XXX">XXX</a>
</blockquote>

When you paste this into a response, you will need to replace BOTH occurances of 'XXX' with the URL (i.e. the address) of the site you want to reference. For example, if you are are trying to point someone to Ed Yourdon's home page, the URL is 'http://www.yourdon.com/index.htm'. This means that, once complete, your inserted link will look like this in the response window:

<blockquote>
<a href="http://www.yourdon.com/index.htm">http://www.yourdon.com/index.htm</a>
</blockquote>

(NOTE: The addresses will NOT be red - I've simply added the color here for clarity.) DON'T CHANGE ANYTHING ELSE! Once posted, your link will appear as follows:

http://www.yourdon.com/index.h tm

If you want the displayed text to be something different than the URL (not advised for beginners) then replace the SECOND 'xxx' with the text you want displayed. Using the example above, if you wanted the displayed text to be "Mr. Yourdon's Home Page", the template would look like this

<blockquote>
<a href="http://www.yourdon.com/index.htm">Mr. Yourdon's Home Page</a>
</blockquote>

(Again, the color will not be red or green - I've just added it here for clarity) Once posted, it will look like this:

Mr. Yourdon's Home Page

Hope this helps.

-- Arnie Rimmer (Arnie_Rimmer@usa.net), July 11, 1999.

One important followup... you must include the "http://" portion of the URL (i.e. the stuff at the beginning of the URL) or your link will not work)

-- Arnie Rimmer (Arnie_Rimmer@usa.net), July 11, 1999.

Clyde,

Here are some more HTML tips from the archives

http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=000E hD

Good stuff!

-- RUOK (RUOK@yesiam.com), July 11, 1999.

Hey guy's,

I think you just confused the poster. Start with telling him what APP youre using, and go from there step by step. Otherwise save the keystrokes. All just MO. Another Q for ya. From this screen (IE4) I can click on "File","Send", "Link By e-mail". But then, when I "Cut" the "Link" out of the email and try to post on this forums "Answer" screen (this screen) it just shows up as text. Their must be an easier way than the one youve described above.

-- scratchin' my head (midwestmike_@hotmail.com), July 11, 1999.

There is an easier way if you use Netscape 4.6. With it one can hotlink with the web page builder built in (composer) and then copy and paste the source code in to the "answer form"

If a person wants to html their responses they should have a bit of understanding building web pages. Even the more experianced folk still blow it (like me :o)

-- Brian (imager@home.com), July 11, 1999.

I am just running a test folks to see if it is just the Deciple's thread that won't take my posts Shakey

-- Shakey (in_a_bunker@forty.feet), July 11, 1999.

There is nothing wrong with Arnie's instructions, and you don't need any application. Just use whatever you view this thread with, and click on the "Contribute an Answer" button on the bottom. Then just type in the info Arnie gave.

To do things like italics and bold, just type

<B> to start bold  print and
<I> to start italics . (Caps and lowercase are 
interchangeable)



Be sure you don't forget:
</b> to turn off bold, and
</i> to turn off italics.

The easiest way to learn, is to use your browser's "view page source" function, then you can see how what you want to do is done. (That is also the best way to learn HTML, find a page that features something you want to do, and look at the source to see how they did it.)

-- walt (walt@lcs.k12.ne.us), July 12, 1999.