Automatic links?

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Greg Stephens
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Post by Greg Stephens »

I'm thinking of adding a feature to the forum that would automatically turn certain text phrases into appropriate hyperlinks.

For example, if you type the phrase "I think Scott McCloud wrote a book about that topic", when the post appears, Scott's name would magically become a link to his site, like so: "I think Scott McCloud wrote a book about that."

Expanding on this, I'm considering adding an option to the user profiles that would allow you to type the phrase "my site" into your post and have a link to your site (as listed in your profile) automatically inserted.

The other option, rather than having things keyworded, would be to add BBcode entries for certain links, which would work like this:

Code: Select all

"I think [scott]that Scott guy[/scott] might know the answer."
or

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"you could always visit [mysite]this great site[/mysite] for more information."
The first idea is more elegant, but the second seems more flexible (as easier for me to code). Any thoughts?

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Greg

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Greg Stephens on 2001-09-10 18:24 ]</font>
Max Leibman
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Post by Max Leibman »

I would vote for the second option; it leaves the keywording in the hands of the posters. As long as its well-documented and easy to understand, I think the feature is best left in a form that user can manipulate and control themselves.

-Max Leibman
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