How do I change the display text for a link?

The question is pretty straightforward—I keep seeing links where the display name has been swapped out. Instead of seeing the actual URL, say from YouTube, it just says something else entirely, like "LINK." Obviously, when you click it, you still end up at the intended destination, but I’m curious about the mechanics here. How exactly does one go about changing the display text for a link?

Maybe something like this

http://tinyurl.com/forum-hr

Yeah, so you know how YouTube links usually look—and now I’m seeing cases where instead of a standard URL, there’s just some random word like WATER written out. It’s still a functional link, though; once you click it, it takes you straight to the video, it's just been renamed. Does anyone actually know how people pull that off?

Dana Morales64 said:Yeah, you know how YouTube links work? I'm seeing stuff where instead of the actual URL, it just shows some random word, but it's still a link—you click it and it takes you straight to YouTube. It's just renamed. I have no clue how people do that.

Like this (without spaces in the tags):

[ URL="http://www.link.com"; ]THIS IS A LINK[ /URL ]

Result:
THIS IS A LINK

Quote my post and check the difference in the editor.

Jacob Foster11 said:Like this (without spaces in the tags):

[ URL="http://www.link.com"; ]THIS IS A LINK[ /URL ]

The result:
THIS IS A LINK

Just quote my post and check the difference in the editor.

Something just isn't working, like if I type
[ URL="http://www.youtube.com"; ]THIS YOUTUBE LINK[ /URL ]
and absolutely nothing happens

hollowsurfer6 said:It’s just not working, man. Like, I even tried
[ URL="http://www.youtube.com"; ]THIS YOUTUBE LINK[ /URL ]
but nothing happens

The thing is, you can see him everywhere now with the new name, like over on Facebook

And I'm trying it this way, but still nothing works
HERE IS THE LINK

hollowsurfer6 said:you could show him everywhere under his new name, like on Facebook

No, no, no. What I wrote above applies strictly to forums. Facebook is a completely different story.

hollowsurfer6 said:and I'm trying it this way but it won't work
THIS IS THE LINK

Well, it clearly works. You can see he did that for you.

just testing things out here...

Jacob Foster11 said:Like this (without any spaces inside the tags):

[ URL="http://www.link.com"; ]THIS IS A LINK[ /URL ]

The result:
THIS IS A LINK

Just quote my post and check the difference in the editor.

žminj

Still doesn't make sense to me... ugh...

How can I make it so this link just says ALFA ROMEO instead?

http://www.craigslist.org/ms/autos/alfa-rom...-ad-1028094

Think about it this way:
ALFA ROMEO

The whole difference between my link and yours basically boils down to how those [ url ] [ /url ] tags are sitting there... Honestly, just try using the quote function and you'll see exactly what I mean.

"}ALFA

I just can't get those brackets next to the F and G keys to work... I hit Alt and nothing happens...

You need to write this:

Alfa Romeo

[ you get [ by hitting Alt+F, whereas ] comes from Alt+G.

jadetrucker43 said:You need to write this:

Alfa Romeo

[ is Alt+F, while ] you get it with Alt+G.

I try doing it that way using the @ symbol (Alt+V), but my computer seems to be glitching... whenever I attempt those bottom-left brackets, some browser just pops up... I'll have to find an IT guy who actually knows what they're doing to fix this...

There are actually a few other ways to handle those brackets. For instance, you can just use Alt Codes: [ is Alt-91, while ] is Alt-93.
In case you aren't familiar with how Alt Codes work—you just hit NumLock, hold down Alt (not AltGr, by the way) and type the specific code on the number pad.

Or, you could try this: hit Shift+Alt to toggle your keyboard over to the US layout. Once you're there, the Š key acts as [ and the Đ key works as ]. 🙂

Another option: when you're drafting a post using the advanced mode, just click on to insert your link. The forum will wrap it in URL tags automatically, so all you have to do is tweak the display text to whatever you want it to look like.

jadetrucker43 said:There are other ways to type those brackets. For instance, you can use Alt Codes: [ is Alt-91, whereas ] is Alt-93.
If you aren't familiar with how Alt Codes work, here’s the drill: hit NumLock, hold down the Alt key, and type the specific code on your numeric keypad. Simple enough.

Look, just hit Shift+Alt. That’ll switch your keyboard over to the US layout. Once you do that, your Š becomes [ and your Đ becomes ]. Simple enough. 🙂

When you're using advanced mode to write a post, just hit Alt... Just drop the link in. The forum handles the URL tags automatically—all you have to do is rename the hyperlink to whatever you want it to look like.

Regarding that, you just write down whatever you want the link to be called. For example... Take a look at this. Highlight the text, click that icon, paste your link, and you're done. Simple enough. 👍

Wikipedia. A massive, digital repository built on the labor of volunteers. It’s a chaotic, beautiful mess of collective intelligence. You go there for a quick fact, and twenty minutes later you’re deep in a rabbit hole about the history of the interstate highway system or some obscure Supreme Court ruling. It’s useful, sure, but it’s also a minefield of edit wars and biased entries. I’ve spent more hours than I care to admit trying to verify a single citation just to prove a point in an online argument. It’s the backbone of the internet, for better or worse.

trying

cool.. 😬

I could never wrap my head around that stuff.. cheers to Nicholas Robinson4 🎉

jadetrucker43 said:There are actually other ways to type those brackets if you don't want to do it the standard way. You can always use Alt Codes instead: just hit Alt-91 for the left bracket [ and Alt-93 for the right one ].
If you’re struggling to figure out how to use Alt Codes, here’s the deal: just make sure your NumLock is turned on, hold down the Alt key, and then punch in the specific code using the number pad on your keyboard.

Look, just hit Shift+Alt. That’ll toggle your keyboard over to the US layout. Once you do that, your Š key will act like [ and your Đ will be ]. 🙂

Oh, one more thing I should probably mention... if you hit Alt + F, you get [, and Alt + G gives you ].
That’s for an American keyboard layout.

🙂

briskbison41, give it a rest—don't start posting at 4:30 in the morning, it’s obvious you didn't bother reading this entire thread. 😉 Just take a look at post #12 😛

jadetrucker43 said:briskbison41, stop posting at 4:30 in the morning, you clearly haven't read this whole thread. 😉 Check out post #12 😛

Fair point. 😬

Laura Phillips54 said:[/B]
Basically, you just type out whatever you want the link to say, like check this out—highlight that text, hit the icon, paste your link, and you're done. 👍

Wikipedia

People have talked about this enough already, but here's the bottom line: Where on earth do you actually input the URL? What good are all these explanations if it simply doesn't work (specifically when I'm trying to send an email)? Am I supposed to be typing this all into some text editor somewhere? Where??