Tech: how do i? (blue clicky)

Subject: Tech: how do i?
From: jeddy
Date: 20 May 09 - 03:44 PM

how do i create a blue link so i can share stuff with other people? such a cool thing to be able to do. i would be very grateful.

Subject: RE: Tech: how do i?
From: Paul Burke
Date: 20 May 09 - 03:50 PM

Must be an FAQ on this somewhere:

Go to the page to want to share, and copy its address, - right click on the URL in the navigation box and select copy".

Then come here

Click on   Make a link ("blue clicky") below right.

Paste your URL into the top box (ctrl-V).
Enter any text you'd like (e.g. Watch be play underwater!) in the lower box.
Click
Create Link.
Copy the link created... that's everything from < to > inclusive.
Come back here and paste it in.

Job done!

Subject: RE: Tech: how do i?
From: Amos
Date: 20 May 09 - 03:58 PM

It is described in the HTML section of the Mudcat Faq an dis well worth learning to do. With just a handful of HTML commands you can make your posts much more vital and useful.


A

Subject: RE: Tech: how do i?
From: jeddy
Date: 20 May 09 - 04:11 PM

thank you i will have to practise if i end up posting on here by mistake, i will apologise in advance.

Subject: RE: Tech: how do i?
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 20 May 09 - 04:21 PM

This would be a good and harmless place for you to practice, Jeddy.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: Tech: how do i?
From: VirginiaTam
Date: 20 May 09 - 04:22 PM

jeddy rocks

If you see something want to do like size, bold, color, etc.

you can also borrow code by doing the following

click VIEW (in the tool bar) SOURCE (drop down menu)

This will open a notepad of the page.

click EDIT (tool bar) FIND (drop down)

type in the word or phrase that has the code you want to copy.

see if you can figure out how I did your name in red

Subject: RE: Tech: how do i? (blue clicky)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 20 May 09 - 04:30 PM

Feel free to practice in this thread. You can use the "make a link" utility at the bottom of every message box, but it's not hard to do it yourself and eventually it's much quicker. Here are my standard instructions:

<a href="http://www.mudcat.org">Click here</a>

If you're posting links at Mudcat, the quotation marks are optional. I prefer not to use them, because they complicate the task of making links. Simple is better, I think. Fewer misteaks.

I find it's best to open a new browser window [CTRL-N] and navigate your way to the site you want to link to. Highlight and copy [CTRL-C] the URL (address) of the site, and then go back to your Mudcat message and paste [CTRL-V] the URL into your link. Be sure to include the http:// in that URL. The quotation marks are standard procedure, but most links work just fine without quotation marks.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Tech: how do i? (blue clicky)
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 20 May 09 - 05:39 PM

Note that you can fill in your trial post in any "Reply to Thread" box, click to put a check mark in the "Preview" box and hit "Submit Message."

The Preview will show what your post will look like, and the link will work just as if it had been posted. You can right-click the link you made and choose "open in new tab," or "open in new window" to see if the link works. (In browsers that use "tabbed browsing" clicking with the wheel in the middle of the mouse also (usually) opens the target in a new tab.)

You want to open in a new tab, or new window, when you click to test the link so that your post is still there to go back to for changes if it didn't work. Whether it works or not, you can just close the new tab/window and you'll be back at the preview.

If it works, the "Preview" button will be "unchecked" in the preview window, and you can just hit Submit Message again to post it. If you were just "practicing" you can hit the "Back" arrow to get out of the preview without posting your mistakes for everybody to giggle over.

John

Subject: RE: Tech: how do i? (blue clicky)
From: Ross Campbell
Date: 20 May 09 - 09:36 PM

In Safari (Apple's default browser) I used to lose my way (and lines and lines of text) trying to back-track to the "Reply to Thread" box by means of the back-arrow, because Safari used the same page for successive actions (I know you could generate a new page before doing anything else, but in the heat of the moment this hardly ever(never) happens).

In Firefox (free downloads available for both Macs and PCs), setting up a new tab allows the "Reply to Thread" box to stay in its own tab while you seek the page you want to link to. When you have copied the URL, return to the reply box tab. New tabs seem to be generated automatically thereafter by the link-maker, link test etc, so the reply box tab is always there to go back to.

Ross

Subject: RE: Tech: how do i? (blue clicky)
From: paul vaughan
Date: 26 May 11 - 12:11 PM

my youtube channel

Subject: RE: Tech: how do i? (blue clicky)
From: paul vaughan
Date: 26 May 11 - 12:13 PM

Hey it works!!

Subject: RE: Tech: how do i? (blue clicky)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 27 May 25 - 05:14 PM

I've had some questions about making links lately. Here is a good place to practice. As John in Kansas explains above, you can use any message box as a practice space. Just check the "preview" button.
-Joe-

Subject: RE: Tech: how do i? (blue clicky)
From: Helen
Date: 27 May 25 - 05:42 PM

I can't remember whether it was DaveRo who recommended this link maker but it is really simple and easy:

Simple linkifier

It doesn't have the complications of trying to remember what to put in for Mudcat threads and it takes longer links easily.

Subject: RE: Tech: how do i? (blue clicky)
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 27 May 25 - 06:17 PM

my first bookmark is Mudcat, next is the linkifier, followed by other important sites like news & weather.

Subject: RE: Tech: how do i? (blue clicky)
From: RandyL
Date: 27 May 25 - 07:37 PM

Simple linkifier just google it you use it just like a blue sticky I don't know but it works great. what I did was go to were I wanted to send a link I went to the web page after opening a separate window then I opened another window and searched revad.github.io/linkifier.html now I was ready. I copied the url I wanted to share then opened the linkifier and pasted it then clicked make a link went to mudcat and pasted it and holy moly poor Joe didn't have to erase it!!! lol

Subject: RE: Tech: how do i? (blue clicky)
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 27 May 25 - 07:47 PM

DaveRo invented the simple linkifier.

Yah, DaveRo, where would we be without him?

Another cheer for Joe for all his work keeping this wonderful old site going.

Subject: RE: Tech: how do i? (blue clicky)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 27 May 25 - 08:17 PM

Yeah, I had to delete a bunch of Randy's mistakes today, but he's getting the hang of it.
I never use those link makers. I make maybe thirty links a day, so I can do it in my sleep.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Tech: how do i? (blue clicky)
From: Helen
Date: 28 May 25 - 12:56 AM

All right, Mr Showoff! Make us feel useless! LOL

No, you're a(n inter)national treasure, Joe! :-)

Subject: RE: Tech: how do i? (blue clicky)
From: GUEST,Grishka
Date: 28 May 25 - 09:37 AM

What would be even more useful is a "linkifyer" to an individual contribution, for example this one to Joe's previous post. It cannot be tested in the "Preview", but this one can – hopefully, and to an arbitrary thread.

Subject: RE: Tech: how do i? (blue clicky)
From: GUEST,Grishka
Date: 28 May 25 - 09:59 AM

Actually I don't see an easy way to do it for Mudcat users. (Does anybody have an idea?)

If the Mudcat script were open to improvements, I would propose a button at each post, saying "Copy a link to this post into your clipboard". The text will be pre-filled with "this post by ***". In other words, when pressed inside Joe's post on 27 May 25 - 08:17 PM, the clipboard would be filled with

<a href="thread.cfm?threadid=120999#4223333">this post by Joe Offer</a>

- which users can insert into their own posts unchanged, if they don't dare to edit it.

Subject: RE: Tech: how do i? (blue clicky)
From: GUEST,Grishka
Date: 28 May 25 - 12:23 PM

Here is my bold attempt at a linkifyer to single Mudcat posts. Unfortunately, you first have to save the page to your computer, then copy the "Date:" line of the post you want to link to. The usage will be self-explanatory.

Note: courtesy of ChatGPT; my own part being reduced to fault-finding. Feel free to improve.


<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8">
    <title>Extract Post Link</title>
</head>
<body>
    <label for="dateInput">Enter the "Date:" line of the post:</label>
    <input type="text" id="dateInput"><br><br>

    <p>On the thread page in your browser, right click and invoke the "Save page as ..." function. Remember where you stored the file, and press the following button to select it.</p>
    <input type="file" id="fileInput"><br><br>

    <p id="output"></p>

    <script>
       document.getElementById("fileInput").addEventListener("change", function() {
            let dateInput = document.getElementById("dateInput").value.trim();
            if (!dateInput.startsWith("Date:")) {
                document.getElementById("output").textContent = "Error: Please enter the entire 'Date:' line.";
                return;
            }

            const file = this.files[0];
            if (!file) {
                document.getElementById("output").textContent = "Error: Please select a file.";
                return;
            }

            const reader = new FileReader();
            reader.onload = function(event) {
                const text = event.target.result;

                // Modify search string: "Date: mydate" -> "Date:</b> mydate"
                dateInput = dateInput.replace("Date:", "Date:</b>");

                // Search for modified date string
                const dateIndex = text.indexOf(dateInput);
                if (dateIndex === -1) {
                   document.getElementById("output").textContent = "Error: Date text not found in file.";
                   return;
                }

                // Extract canonical URL
                const canonicalMatch = text.match(/<link rel="canonical" href="([^"]+)">/);
                const url = canonicalMatch ? canonicalMatch[1] : null;

                // Find the **last anchor before the date**
                const beforeText = text.substring(0, dateIndex);
                const anchorMatch = [...beforeText.matchAll(/<a name="?([^">]+)"?>/gi)].pop();
                const anchor = anchorMatch ? anchorMatch[1] : null;

                if (!url || !anchor) {
                   document.getElementById("output").textContent = "Error: Could not extract required data.";
                   return;
                }

                // Construct final link
                const resultLink       = `<a href="${url}#${anchor}">this postt</a>`;
                const resultLinkEsc = `&lt;a href="${url}#${anchor}"&gt;this post&lt;/a&gt;`;
                document.getElementById("output").innerHTML = "The following link has been copied to your clipboard:<br>"
                      + resultLinkEsc
                      + "<br>Just press Ctrl.-v in your post to Mudcat, or anywhere where links are allowed. Edit the \"this post\" part to your wishes."

                // Copy to clipboard
                navigator.clipboard.writeText(resultLink).catch(err => console.error("Clipboard error:", err));
            };

            reader.readAsText(file);
       });
    </script>
</body>
</html>


Subject: RE: Tech: how do i? (blue clicky)
From: GUEST,Grishka
Date: 28 May 25 - 12:30 PM

Em, for those who don't know what to do with the above code: Select the text from "<!DOCTYPE html>" to the end, press "Ctrl.-c", copy it to an empty text file via "Ctrl.-v", save ("export") that file in ordinary text format ("UTF-8" or "plain text"), choose a name for it such as "LinkifyGrishka.html", and click on the file symbol in your file explorer (or load it into your browser by any other method).

Feel free to ask.

Elves, feel free to copy or move my posts where they may be found by anyone interested.

Subject: RE: Tech: how do i? (blue clicky)
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 28 May 25 - 12:36 PM

Here’s DaveRo’s Linkifier. Dead simple, even I use it.

https://revad.github.io/linkifier.html

Subject: RE: Tech: how do i? (blue clicky)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 28 May 25 - 12:36 PM

Grishka, I use the entire URL, not an internal reference to it the way you did. It's too easy for the shortened one to fail.

Like Joe, I read/correct/rewrite many links a day. It's muscle memory at this point. When people simply place an un-linked URL in a post it's easy for one of us to copy it, add the requisite a href bit, with carets, and there it is, if it is a link that needs making.

Subject: RE: Tech: how do i? (blue clicky)
From: GUEST,Grishka
Date: 28 May 25 - 01:28 PM

SRS, you seem to be referring to my first method in this post. That's why for my script in this post I use the entire URL, to make it "fool-proof". Please specify if I misunderstood you. Also, any improvement is welcome. (I wrote "postt" so that the fault-finders have something ...)

Subject: RE: Tech: how do i? (blue clicky)
From: Helen
Date: 28 May 25 - 02:41 PM

You're a(n inter)national treasure too, SRS! :-)

Subject: RE: Tech: how do i? (blue clicky)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 28 May 25 - 03:10 PM

There's a very nice link maker at the bottom of every Mudcat message-posting box. If you know how to cut and paste, it's just about foolproof.
Make a link ("blue clicky")

Subject: RE: Tech: how do i? (blue clicky)
From: GUEST,Grishka
Date: 28 May 25 - 03:17 PM

SRS and Joe, are you suggesting that the functionality I want, and tried to provide as a makeshift, is already there? Have I missed something?

Subject: RE: Tech: how do i? (blue clicky)
From: DaveRo
Date: 28 May 25 - 03:43 PM

Joe Offer wrote: There's a very nice link maker at the bottom of every Mudcat message ...

Except doesn't work:
- for references to posts within mudcat itself
- for long links

People were falling over both these bugs, which is why I wrote my Simple Linkifier.

Subject: RE: Tech: how do i? (blue clicky)
From: Helen
Date: 28 May 25 - 04:01 PM

Thanks DaveRo, that is exactly why I use your linkifier. It is really easy to use and reliable. Many thanks for creating yours. :-)

Subject: RE: Tech: how do i? (blue clicky)
From: FreddyHeadey
Date: 28 May 25 - 04:08 PM

Grishka, yes, I think so.

Dave Ro's
https://revad.github.io/linkifier.html that has been mentioned?

That's the one I have bookmarked on my home screen and use all the time.

---

(I'm on an android tablet)
btw if I'm linking to a particular individual contribution what I do is
- look at the time stamp of the post, copy it
27 May 25 - 08:17 PM
- and paste it into 'find in page'.
(or even just type in '08:17')
- scroll to find the highlighted link in the top list
- click&hold & 'copy link address'
- paste the link into https://revad.github.io/linkifier.html
etc
https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=120999#4223333

Subject: RE: Tech: how do i? (blue clicky)
From: GUEST,Grishka
Date: 28 May 25 - 04:59 PM

Freddy, thanks; that works alright, though not much more "intuitive" than using my script. Perhaps someone finds a better solution still.

Subject: RE: Tech: how do i? (blue clicky)
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 28 May 25 - 05:15 PM

In long gone postings at MC ... I have expressed my objections to To Blue CLICKIES ... I guess they are here to stay.

HTML practice thread is still around.

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

My major problem was that folks fail to learn ... understand the basic structures of Al Gore's highway ... it becomes like a self driving TESLA given to a 16 y.o.

Subject: RE: Tech: how do i? (blue clicky)
From: DaveRo
Date: 28 May 25 - 05:30 PM

GUEST,Grishka wrote: Perhaps someone finds a better solution

The 'better solution' is to use my Mudcat Browser Tools browser addon. No copying or pasting: just one click to linkify every URL in your post.

But it doesn't work on Apple's Safari, or iPhones and iPads, which the Simple Linkifier does.

Subject: RE: Tech: how do i? (blue clicky)
From: GUEST,Grishka
Date: 28 May 25 - 06:15 PM

DaveRo, upon a quick look at your Browser Tools, I did not see the button functionality I proposed in this post. Are you offering it, or what else for the purpose? Do your users find it easy to use?

This said, it would be good to have such a function in the ordinary Mudcat script.

Subject: RE: Tech: how do i? (blue clicky)
From: DaveRo
Date: 29 May 25 - 02:10 AM

Grishka: You mean a 'permalink' on each post, such as most forums have? No, it doesn't do that: I never thought about it until last night when I read Freddy's post - though it easily could. Probably because I wrote it for myself (mainly for use on mobile devices) and linking to other posts within Mudcat is not something I would often do. I suspect it's more a feature of the BS section. Links to threads, yes, but rarely to posts.

I've no idea whether users find it easy to use, I get no feedback and, unless they use the quote feature, I don't know if anybody is using it. That it doesn't work on an iThing or Android (except in Firefox) is a big limitation.

Subject: RE: Tech: how do i? (blue clicky)
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 29 May 25 - 04:19 AM

I'm a very satisfied customer of the simple linkifier - & don't use any other forums so I dunno about permalink. I do everything on my Mac/firefox & only use my android phone for texts, calls & photos.

Mudcat blickifier can't handle very long URLs which I occasionally post down below on the archaeology thread.

sandra

Subject: RE: Tech: how do i? (blue clicky)
From: DaveRo
Date: 29 May 25 - 05:12 AM

Just for info, a 'permalink' is a link to anything - a webpage, an article, a thread, or in this case a post, which is 'permanent' i.e. it shouldn't change in future and is therefore 'safe' to post in a forum. The word was coined when websites - particularly news sites - used to archive articles under different URLs to when they first appeared. I haven't seen that recently but I still see 'permalink' as a tooltip to the button that copies a link to a forum post - often the button is a a chain icon.

Permalinks should not contain extraneous data - from the search you used to get there for example - which you might get if you just copy the URL in the address bar. (Browser often have an option to 'clean' a link when copying it.)

If you look at this thread on concertina.net, and my post, and click/tap the 3-dots on the right, there is a 'share' option which - depending on the device/browser you're using - should allow you to copy the link to that post to the clipboard. That what I mean by a permalink.

Subject: RE: Tech: how do i? (blue clicky)
From: GUEST,Grishka
Date: 29 May 25 - 07:57 AM

This raises another important question: how permanent are links to Mudcat items in general?

The elves reserve the right to move messages between threads, split up or merge threads etc. From this point of view, "permalinks" to individual posts would be preferable to thread-IDs: each post gets an ID, by which it can be linked without mentioning the thread. Instead of decimal numbers, arbitrary characters ("36-based") can be used, so that the IDs don't get too long. Links would then look like "https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?postid=1s2o3m4e5t6h7i8n9g" and would be distributed by the script. If a link to an entire thread is desired, it can be considered represented by its first post ("OP") – at the user's risk.

The BS section has its name from the fact that permanence is not desired. The music section, however, is often referred to by researchers, even decades after the posting took place.

Question to the elves: is the existing ID of a post, such as "4223333", actually unique Mudcat-wide? If so, it can be used for the above threadless mechanism as well.

Subject: RE: Tech: how do i? (blue clicky)
From: DaveRo
Date: 29 May 25 - 08:50 AM

Yes, the post number is unique. See this URL:
https://mudcat.org/detail.cfm?messages__Message_ID=4223333

So if you post a link to a post, you can do it as a single post or within the thread.

Subject: RE: Tech: how do i? (blue clicky)
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 29 May 25 - 09:38 AM

Another thumbs-up for DaveRo’s ‘Simple Linkifier’, to which I posted a link in my post of 28 May 25 - 12:36 PM. I use it all the time.

Subject: RE: Tech: how do i? (blue clicky)
From: GUEST,Grishka
Date: 29 May 25 - 11:36 AM

Good news, DaveRo, and probably less well-known than it should be. Assuming the Message_ID survives moving to a different thread, it can be considered a "permalink", "more permanent" than a thread ID. (Hopefully, the IDs of deleted messages are not being reused.)

The syntax you gave only shows the single message, which is not always what we want. We can click on the "Thread Name" link to get the entire thread (possibly thousands of messages), where we have to search again, or add the #... to the URL manually. Is there a syntax that beams us from the Message_ID right into its current thread context?

Perhaps there is a Mudcat thread explaining all this? I would not feel insulted if you pointed us there ("RTFM").

Subject: RE: Tech: how do i? (blue clicky)
From: NightWing
Date: 29 May 25 - 12:20 PM

Grishka:

This format ...

https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=120999&messages=42#4223438

... points to your post (where you asked this question) in this thread, as long as the post is not moved to another thread. This is rare enough that it's likely to be safe, but not completely so.

This format ...

https://mudcat.org/detail.cfm?messages__Message_ID=4223438

... points to your post by itself, no matter what thread it gets moved to in the future.

To point at some other post in some other thread, the numbers are all that has to change. It should be obvious how to do so?

Subject: RE: Tech: how do i? (blue clicky)
From: DaveRo
Date: 29 May 25 - 01:19 PM

I don't know whether the Message_ID survives being moved to a different thread, though it seems likely. The IDs of deleted messages are not reused. At least, not by design - if the system fails and is imperfectly restored, then any 'permalinks' recently posted - maybe to other forums, might be wrong.

And the permanence of links to Mudcat depends on how the Mudcat server redirects old ones. There used to be several sub-domains, as I described this post, so old posts - not necessarily on this forum - may link to, say, http://awe.mudcat.org. For that link to still work the mudcat.org server needs to redirect everything - which AFAIK it does - or did. I posted links to Mudcat on usenet years before I ever posted here. Do they still work?

I can't find a very old usenet post linking to Mudcat - but here, for your amusement, is a selection of posts from 20 years ago.
https://usenetarchives.com/threads.php?id=uk.music.folk&y=2005

Subject: RE: Tech: how do i? (blue clicky)
From: GUEST,Grishka
Date: 29 May 25 - 02:16 PM

What I would find most useful is a parameter format that has exactly the same effect as, say, https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=120999#4223438, but without having to specify a threadid, so that it remains valid after the message has been moved. For example (i.e. not working yet!), https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?messageid=4223438.

As a makeshift, "thread.cfm" may be reprogrammed to search for the message elsewhere if not found in the given thread - not really the best idea though.

I remember many music threads that have been reorganized by the elves, for good reasons. It would be even better if the "permalinks" remained valid.

Would someone please point me to a thread where all existing parameter syntaxes are listed and explained? The ones mentioned above I understood.