User:Milton Beychok/Sandbox
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| This help page is meant for help and guidance only. It can be edited by any Citizen and, whilst we try to ensure it is accurate, it may not fully represent current policy. |
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An External link in the Citizendium website is a hyperlink[1] pointing to a specific resource (e.g., a page or document) in some other online website. Clicking on an external link connects you to that resource. Formatting an external link is done by enclosing the URL[2] of that resource in brackets and including an appropriate title for the resource. The resource title must be separated from the URL by a single space. Thus, the format coding is simply [URL title].
For example, placing [http://www.epa.gov/aboutepa/organization.html EPA Organizational Structure] on the edit page of any article or any talk page will result in EPA Organizational Structure being displayed as a blue link in the article or talk page. Clicking on that blue link will take you to that resource on the website of the U.S. EPA.
Note that the URL in the above example is http://www.epa.gov/aboutepa/organization.html and the resource title is EPA Organizational Structure, and they are separated by a single blank space. Except in some rare special circumstances, a bare URL (without an appropriate title) should not be used as an external link.
The difference between external and internal links
As explained above, an external link points to a resource on some other website. An internal link is a hyperlink that points to a resource located elsewhere in Citizendium and is often referred to as a wiki link. Internal links are formatted differently than external links (see Help:Index/Formatting/Links/Internal for how to format internal links.) For example, the blue U.S. EPA link in the above introductory section is an internal link that take you an article elsewhere in Citizendium.