Websites...How to do links...Textpattern, HTML, Subscribe

by Tryan Hartill

Recently I was having a chat with Bling about doing links. And I’ve noticed that her and many others don’t know how to link on the web. Here is a short (Edit: Not so short now..) overview.

There are many ways to link and it seems there are more and more ways as new types of databases are being implemented. ProBoards has their own link style. As does Textile. And still many others only allow the old fashioned HTML style. And many others will just let you copy and paste the URL and it will do the link for you.

Here at NCO we use Textpattern/Textile…..

To do a link in Textpattern/Textile, first you must key in what you want the link to say…like Click Here

Next you put quotation marks around the words…like “Click Here”

Following the second quotation mark at the end you key a colon…Like “Click Here”:

After the Colon you copy and paste a URL like this one:

http://www.northcoastoregon.com/2007/12/29/FromHillsboroArgusLNGVeteranWeighsInOnLNGInOregon

Once you are done it looks like this

Click Here

Make sure the URL is directly after the colon and if the link comes at the end of a sentence, just add a period to the end of the URL.

::::::::

HTML Links

Even though HTML Links won’t work here, they are still handy to know how to do when cruising around the web (Blogger Especially) .

Here is a good overview of how to do a HTML Link

You will notice it has…..a href=”URL” at the start. In place of the URL you post all that is in your browser window at the top. Right now yours says http://www.northcoastoregon.com/2007/12/30/WebstuffHowtodolinksTextpatternHTMLSubcribe.

This is what you replace the “URL” with by the copy and paste method.

So instead of “URL” it reads “http://www.northcoastoregon.com/”

Next you put in the text you want to display…like Best Website Ever!!! And after that you copy the whole thing and paste it when you write posts/comments on the web.

And if you want to practice, start posting links like this all around the web….Best Website Ever!! (Just Kidding..sort of)

Subscribing

Most websites have a subscribe button somewhere on the front page. This is simply a feed to the site. There are many programs that you can sign up for that will receive feeds for you from different websites. The most popular are Google Reader, Bloglines and My Yahoo!. And there are thousands of others out there.

Once you sign up for one of these, you can subscribe to most of the websites that you browse simply by clicking the Subscribe button on each one. Here is what the subscribe button on NCO looks like:

Once you have the feed, your program (Google Reader, Bloglines etc.) will let you know when the site has been updated, so you can check 100’s of websites for new material in about a minute. And go to the ones you want to read.

Bookmarking and Favorites

Bookmarking and Favorites are the same thing depending on what browser you use (FireFox, Internet Explorer..etc..) and are similar to Subscribing.

To do this, go to a page you like and want quick access to. (Like this page!)
Next click on Bookmarks/Favorites (Sometimes it’s a yellow star) and go to “Bookmark this Page”...”Add to Favorites” etc….etc…. once you click, it will ask if you really want to bookmark the page. Once you say yes, you have a bookmark. You can add as many as you want to this and have easy/quick access to all your favorite sites.

Make this my Homepage

This is probably one of the most effective ways of supporting a website.

Every computer has a home page that it opens when you first get on the internet. Many users really don’t pay attention to their homepage and if you ask them why they have that particular one, they really can’t tell you. Many times if your computer has a virus it will change your homepage. And if you change it back, it might work for a few days and then the virus will change it again.

Many people tell me that NCO is the first site they read when they log on. (Whether they are fibbing or not….) But if you really, I mean REALLY want to make NCO the first Website you read, you can make it your homepage. There are a few ways of doing this depending on which browser you use. If you use FireFox, simply click on this link and hold the mouse click down and drag it to your home page button, which is a little house near the top of your screen. It will say “Make this your Homepage?”. Once you click yes, every time you get on the internet, it will take you to North Coast Oregon.

If you want another site to be your homepage, like Oregon Live, you click and drag the Oregonlive Icon in the top left corner and drop it on your “house”.

If you have Internet Explorer it is a little more difficult. Do the same click, drag and drop on your little house. But then you must find the “Change Homepage” drop down. On the Internet Explorer that I have, it’s a drop down menu next to the house.

GET FIREFOX!!!

If there is one thing you can do to make the Internet more fun, it’s using the FireFox Browser. It also will protect your computer. I have ruined about 6 computers in my life. They would fill up with viruses and become totally worthless. I tried Norton and Firewalls and everything under the sun and my computer would slowly go down hill until quiting about a year later. My current computer I bought 2 1/2 years ago. I didn’t install 1 anti-virus or Firewall. The computer got pretty upset with me….always telling me “YOUR COMPUTER IS NOT PROTECTED!!!”. But from day 1 I used only FireFox to surf the web. And my computer runs as fast as the day I got it.

It may take you a while to get used to a new browser…but just give it a week and you will be hooked. And if you do switch, bury the IE icon from your desktop. Otherwise you will just start clicking it again out of habit.

Thoroughly confused?
It’s good for ya!
And of course if I am wrong, or you have different advice to give NCO readers, please post in the comments.

Click to give this article an “Up or Down” Vote.

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