As I read diaries here at Oxdown, I have noticed that "raw links" do not seem to work. I do not know why this is so, but one of the aspects of my chosen career field (Software Quality Assurance and Testing) is to deal with what IS and the raw links just don’t seem to work while embedded links DO work.

Here’s what I mean by "raw links." I am using this YouTube as an example (because I like the music). http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=fEOlTZGuLKM

Now if my theory is correct, that link will not show up active when I publish this diary. But, here’s Little Feat Rock and Roll Doctor linked just pretty as you please. The difference? I embedded the link and gave it a name.

Now for some folks, you can use the link button for the diary body by highlighting the words you want to use to name the link, clicking the link button and pasting the link into the box. Unfortunately, I just can’t seem to get that to work correctly for me. So here’s how to write the appropriate HTML (HyperTextMetaLanguage) code yourself!

Now first thing, I am going to have to explain is that HTML uses the carat marks (the "less than" and "greater than" symbols that are on the comma and period keys on most keyboards) to signify that an HTML command is following. For the purpose of this explanation, I am going to substitute the left bracket symbol ([) and right bracket (]) so that you can see the whole chain of the code. So you’ll have to remember to replace the brackets with the carats, but I have faith in you!

So here it is: [a href="PasteYourLinkRightHere"]Now Give Your Link A Name[/a]

In order that is:
Left pointing carat symbol, a, space, href=", your link, quotes, right pointing carat symbol, your link name, left pointing carat again, slash, a, right pointing carat.

Using another YouTube: [a href="http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=SkZsSydzQjM"]Little Feat Fat Man In The Bath Tub[/a]

And in "real time" Little Feat Fat Man In The Bath Tub

I hope this has made sense and is helpful to you. If you are still a bit confused, just check out what happens in comments when you highlight a word and click one of the other buttons to see what HTML does. Or test it out in comments as comments work the same way and use the same code as diaries.