Linking articles into forum posts

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Linking articles into forum posts

Post by Peculiar_Investor »

In the spirit of sharing between Bogleheads and FWF (and finiki), there is a quick method to create links from the wiki for posting in the forum. The wiki pages currently have a footer that provides a link that can be copied and pasted into a forum posting, but with the help of a browser add-on, it is much simpler to link into a forum post.

Personally I use a Chrome extension Create Link (for Firefox users there is Make Link :: Add-ons for Firefox).
Make Link website wrote:Make Link is an extension for Mozilla Firefox which adds a context menu item (Make Link) which allows the user to easily copy links to the clipboard in HTML, forum-code or simple "text (URL)" format.
Create Link (Chrome) is based on Make Link and operates the same way.

Create Link only provides for plain text and HTML links out of the box so add a BBCode option using this syntax: %htmlEscapedText% (tip of the hat to Bylo).

The neat thing about these tools is they can be used to create a link from any website that you'd like to include in a forum post.

Since I don't use IE unless absolutely necessary, I don't know if an equivalent add-on/extension exists.
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Re: Linking wiki articles into forum posts

Post by LadyGeek »

These add-ons are very useful for any type of web page. I use Make Link :: Add-ons for Firefox. For example:

- http://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Principl ... _Placement becomes Principles of Tax-Efficient Fund Placement - Bogleheads, or easily edit to: Principles of Tax-Efficient Fund Placement

- Use as-is if you want to see which wiki is linked: Lazy Portfolios - Bogleheads versus Portfolio Design and Construction - finiki

This also works for the forum: http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtop ... 10&t=88005 becomes Bogleheads • View topic - The Three Fund Portfolio, or easily edit to The Three Fund Portfolio

- Other web sites: Investing Blog: Oblivious Investor

=============================
It's very, very easy to use.
1. Go to the page you want to link to. Right-click your mouse --> Make Link --> Forum Code.
2. Go to your forum post, paste (Ctrl-V or mouse).
Done.
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Re: Linking wiki articles into forum posts

Post by sscritic »

LadyGeek wrote: It's very, very easy to use.
1. Go to the page you want to link to. Right-click your mouse --> Make Link --> Forum Code.
2. Go to your forum post, paste (Ctrl-V or mouse).
Done.
And this is easier than copy and paste from the address bar of the page you are reading? Oh, I know it gets the text right, but what text do you need for this?
http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtop ... 6#p1282776
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Re: Linking wiki articles into forum posts

Post by LadyGeek »

The same amount of text that you'd need for everything else. Now, it's easy to see that you're linking back to here Bogleheads • View topic - Linking wiki articles into forum posts.

It's much quicker than using the forum's BBcode formatting and saves everyone else's time to figure out what you are linking to.

Update: This is also good for YouTube: Average vs. Marginal Tax Rates - YouTube
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Re: Linking wiki articles into forum posts

Post by Peculiar_Investor »

One more, I added a Wiki option to Create Link in Chrome using this syntax: [%url% %title%], so now I can quickly insert links into Wiki edits.
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Re: Linking wiki articles into forum posts

Post by tfb »

Because this requires work from the users, it will never have wide adoption. It's better to do it from the forum software side, as is done in the Early Retirement forum, where every link posted will automatically have its title retrieved and displayed.
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Re: Linking wiki articles into forum posts

Post by NAVigator »

Thanks for the suggestion to use Make Link with FireFox. I added it to the browser and it makes it so easy to add a link and a title. I often edit the title to just include the essentials.

I can now add "text" links in gmail. I had not taken the time to learn how. This handy add-on makes it a snap.

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Re: Linking wiki articles into forum posts

Post by Kevin M »

I just installed Create Link in Chrome. The %input% variable is supposed to pop up a dialogue to enter text, but does not do so for me. Has anyone else tried this and got it working? I am on a Chromebook if it matters.

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Re: Linking wiki articles into forum posts

Post by Peculiar_Investor »

Kevin M wrote:I just installed Create Link in Chrome. The %input% variable is supposed to pop up a dialogue to enter text, but does not do so for me. Has anyone else tried this and got it working? I am on a Chromebook if it matters.

Kevin
I've never had the occasion to use the %input% variable. I just tried it out and also can report no dialog box to enter text. What are you trying to accomplish?
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Re: Linking wiki articles into forum posts

Post by Kevin M »

Peculiar_Investor wrote:
Kevin M wrote:I just installed Create Link in Chrome. The %input% variable is supposed to pop up a dialogue to enter text, but does not do so for me. Has anyone else tried this and got it working? I am on a Chromebook if it matters.

Kevin
I've never had the occasion to use the %input% variable. I just tried it out and also can report no dialog box to enter text. What are you trying to accomplish?
Create a forum link in which I can enter my own text instead of the page title or highlighted text, which I would expect this to do:

%input%

but this just retains "%input%" in the output.

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Re: Linking wiki articles into forum posts

Post by LadyGeek »

Firefox's Make Link add-on will utilize selected text as the title. Not the same extension, but it's useful info for Firefox users:

Swiping across "Make Link" on the extension page produces:

Code: Select all

[url=https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/make-link/]Make Link[/url]
Which appears as: Make Link
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Re: Linking wiki articles into forum posts

Post by Kevin M »

Create Link for Chrome also uses the selected text instead of page title (if text is selected).

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Re: Linking wiki articles into forum posts

Post by LadyGeek »

I'm bumping this 3-year old thread to mention another Firefox add-on that can turn any link into the BBCode format used by the forum software. It can also format links for the wiki. See this Firefox add-on: CoLT

I've modified the BBCode preferences to use a conditional expression:

Code: Select all

[url=%U]%?[S|T][/url]
Selecting text on a page will show the display text as a link. (Right-click --> Copy Page tile and location --> BBCode)

Code: Select all

[url=https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/colt/]CoLT[/url]
Which appears as: CoLT

Not selecting any text on the page will copy the page title:

Code: Select all

[url=https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/colt/]CoLT :: Add-ons for Firefox[/url]
Which appears as: CoLT :: Add-ons for Firefox
===============

That being said, Make Link :: Add-ons for Firefox is working just fine. I had a compatibility issue, but reinstallation of the extension fixed the problem. Perhaps it's the new implementation of Mozilla forcing signed extensions.*

Make Link is also much simpler to use, but its last update was in 2011. I wanted to mention the CoLT alternative in case Make Link disappears.

I also use Chrome with the Create Link extension.

* Update: No, it's still broken and the compatibility problem is real. I installed Disable Add-on Compatibility Checks :: Add-ons for Firefox as a work-around.
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Re: Linking wiki articles into forum posts

Post by FiveK »

Both "Make Link" and "CoLT" now show "This add-on is not compatible with your version of Firefox" (version 57.0 - 64 bit) that was auto-installed within the past day or so.

Anyone know of a working Firefox add-on?
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Re: Linking wiki articles into forum posts

Post by LadyGeek »

My Firefox just updated to version 57.0 and I have the same problem.

I've switched to Chrome with the Create Link extension until I can find a substitute.

The reason I used Firefox is that the Make Link extension allowed you to hover over a link and capture the text. Chrome didn't do that, so I needed to select the link text manually. It was more work and prone to error. This may be a limitation of Chrome's API.

Until Make Link is rewritten or a substitute is found, Chrome will be my primary browser.
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Re: Linking wiki articles into forum posts

Post by FiveK »

Peculiar_Investor wrote: Fri Jan 20, 2012 6:42 am Create Link only provides for plain text and HTML links out of the box so add a BBCode option using this syntax: %htmlEscapedText% (tip of the hat to Bylo).
For those unfamiliar with how to do the above, after adding the Create Link extension:
1) Left click on the three vertical dots at the top right of a Chrome page ("Customize and control Google Chrome")
2) Left click on More Tools > Extensions
3) Left click Options in the Create Link section
4) Add the BBCode option at a place of your choosing. I used the third row:
Image
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Re: Linking wiki articles into forum posts

Post by LadyGeek »

^^^ When hovering over the link, I will get the page title.

For example, hover your cursor over the "Forum Issues and Administration" link while viewing this thread (not editing a post). You'll get Linking wiki articles into forum posts - Bogleheads.org with Create Link.

Firefox's Make Link would instead select the link's text as Forum Issues and Administration - what I intended.
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Re: Linking wiki articles into forum posts

Post by Mudpuppy »

FiveK wrote: Tue Nov 14, 2017 9:02 pm Both "Make Link" and "CoLT" now show "This add-on is not compatible with your version of Firefox" (version 57.0 - 64 bit) that was auto-installed within the past day or so.

Anyone know of a working Firefox add-on?
All plug-ins will have to make changes to be compatible with Firefox 57. Give it a little time for the plug-in authors to make the changes.

If you don't want to wait, you can switch to Firefox ESR (extended-support-release), which is based off an older version of Firefox for the features, but receives all the security updates of the latest version of Firefox. Firefox ESR will not switch over to this new model of Firefox until March, which gives plenty of time for active plug-in authors to update their plug-ins.
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Re: Linking wiki articles into forum posts

Post by LadyGeek »

^^^ Good point. Another alternative is Waterfox - The free, open and private browser, which I'm using for this post. Make Link works fine. (I'm not committed to Waterfox, just testing.)

One issue with Make Link is that the plugin appears abandoned - the developer's website links are broken. Unless another developer comes up with a replacement, Chrome appears to be the only long-term solution.
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Re: Linking wiki articles into forum posts

Post by LadyGeek »

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Re: Linking wiki articles into forum posts

Post by FiveK »

The "Link Text and Location Copier" for Firefox at https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefo ... on-copier/ has been working well for the ~10 days I've tried it. Other than - for whatever reason? - the addon page itself.
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Re: Linking wiki articles into forum posts

Post by LadyGeek »

Thanks! It works fine with Firefox. I'm wondering if the known limitation is used on the add-on site.
Will not work when dom.event.clipboardevents.enabled is set to false.
For the wiki, use this format:

Code: Select all

[%U %T]
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Re: Linking wiki articles into forum posts

Post by LadyGeek »

The latest update has deprecated the format variables in Link Text and Location Copier. (For some reason, the add-on doesn't work on the Mozilla page. Elsewhere, yes. Mozilla.org, no.)

As noted in the developer's home page, Table 1, "Context dependant custom format variables" may be deprecated. I can confirm they have been deprecated (found the info in a user review). If your links suddenly contain "undefined", this is why. Here's my new configuration.

Code: Select all

Menu label                   Format                    Link / Page / Selection
"BBCode - selection"  [url=%pageurl%]%selection%[/url] "selection"
"BBCode - link"       [url=%linkurl%]%linktitle%[/url] "link"
"BBCode  - page"      [url=%pageurl%]%pagetitle%[/url] "page"
"Wiki - selection"    [%pageurl% %selection%]          "selection"
"Wiki - link"         [%linkurl% %linktitle%]          "link"
"Wiki - page"         [%pageurl% %pagetitle%]          "page"
All of the entries have "Don't show context menu as prefix" checked.

The right-click menu is context-sensitive. When you select text, a link, or a page (nothing selected), only one of the above configurations will be shown.

The latest update also provides a settings import / export feature in JSON format. I'll be able to migrate the settings to my other PCs.

Update 5/22: Fixed "BBCode - link" - the parameters were swapped.
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Re: Linking wiki articles into forum posts

Post by LadyGeek »

This thread is referenced from Re: BBcode improvements.

Here's my configuration for Chrome's Create Link extension. The "forum" entry creates the BBCode needed for your forum post. "mediaWiki" is for wiki links.

Code: Select all

Name	        Format
forum     	[url=%url%]%htmlEscapedText%[/url]	
mediaWiki	[%url% %text%]	
HTML	        <a href="%url%">%htmlEscapedText%</a>	
Plain text	%text% %url%	
markdown	[%text%](%url%)
Important: Chrome's API has a limitation - you can't get the URL info of a link by hovering your mouse over it.

Solution: Select the text of the link manually, so it's captured as selected text.

There is no limitation in Firefox. Simply hover your mouse over the link, right-click --> Link Text and Location Copier --> BBCode - link.
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Re: Linking articles into forum posts - Create Link extension 0.5.1 broken

Post by Peculiar_Investor »

Heads up for those using the Create Link extension. There was an update to the extension today and it is causing problems.

a) the extension will be disabled and needs to be enabled (browser permissions)
b) the updated version, 0.5.1, seems to have broken it (see the Support tab)
c) sadly my additional formats seem to have been deleted, i.e. my BBCode format that is useful on phpBB forums is gone and I had to recreate it.
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Re: Linking articles into forum posts

Post by LadyGeek »

My BBCode format was also broken and I had to recreate the format. I also needed to restart the browser (and clear cache).
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Re: Linking articles into forum posts - Create Link extension 0.5.1 broken

Post by Peculiar_Investor »

LadyGeek wrote: Mon Dec 20, 2021 6:34 am My BBCode format was also broken and I had to recreate the format. I also needed to restart the browser (and clear cache).
Still not working at all on Windows 11. Tried both Chrome and Edge browsers, both had been updated to Create Link 0.5.1. I've restarted both browsers multiple times.

Someone has posted this issue at https://github.com/ku/CreateLink/issues/32.
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Re: Linking articles into forum posts

Post by Peculiar_Investor »

LadyGeek wrote: Mon Dec 20, 2021 6:34 am My BBCode format was also broken and I had to recreate the format. I also needed to restart the browser (and clear cache).
Okay I seem to have got it working again. Clearing cache seems to have been the key step, I have no clue why it would be required either.

Thanks.
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Re: Linking articles into forum posts

Post by Bylo Selhi »

LadyGeek wrote: Mon Dec 20, 2021 6:34 am My BBCode format was also broken and I had to recreate the format. I also needed to restart the browser (and clear cache).
Saved again by LadyGeek. Thank you! :beer:
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