wiki: external links - request to change behavior
 

This link shows us how to do external links in the wiki. What is nice about this post I'm writing, is that you didn't see the detail of the actual URL for that referenced page (if you want to, you can - by hovering over the link).

On the wiki, it does display the URL as well - which clutters the page and makes reading harder. Wikipedia (and indeed the Wikimedia example page which the above FT example page seems to be related to (scroll down to the 7th row) shows it without the URL. Instead, to highlight that it is an external (i.e. non-Wiki) link, a little square/arrow combination are shown next to the link. This helps reading the document without having to ignore the additional text.

There seems to be no way on the FT wiki to prevent the extra URL from appearing.

Additionally, there is a further problem caused by this in that a random line-break can be inserted, making it harder to read. Documented here.

Would it be possible to have the FT wiki changed to match others, and use the little square/arrow convention? If this happens, and an author wants the URL to appear as at present, it can simply be added. At present, there is no way to reduce the clutter.

Note: I used X to represent the square box/arrow combination, and I've added a space into the sample & FT wiki rendering lines after "http" to prevent FT from showing that as a clickable link.

hmmm. Do we have a wiki forum? What is the best way for me to raise this question?

Suggestions should go in the suggestions forum, I have moved your thread to it. I cannot answer if or when this change is possible quite yet though.

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This post may be deleted. I'd delete it if I could :)

Understood, thanks :)

In further support of my case, I'd like to offer two examples.

Exhibit A, the FT thread version
Exhibit B, the wiki version

Without trying to be too dramatic, I've made the wiki version as readable as possible, but I still think it's a poor second to the FT thread for clarity.

I certainly hope that this request can be classified as "to be implemented if technically possible" and not discounted; I fully understand there may be delays for implementation.

thanks!

Thanks to HOM for speedy fixing of this problem. As it's all fixed now, checking the links above makes no sense any more as you don't see the problem ;).

Big ^ ^ to HOM. Details here.