Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: URLs in email / Archive long line problem fixed

[ken (gebser]

Fred H Olson wrote:
> ....
> 
> I'd also like to urge people to take more care in including URL's in
> their messages:
> 
> Suggestions related to putting URLs (web addresses) in email.
> 
> 1) Be sure to include the "http://"; part on URL's you cite in
> email.  Without this archane string, some email programs and
> most listserv archives do not make them into clickable links. One
> can still cut and paste to view them but that makes them much
> less likely to be followed.

I believe that the convention stipulates that a URL enclosed in
greater-than and less-than signs (<>) should not be wordwrapped when
present in an email.  Unfortunately, not a lot of email clients follow
this convention.


> ....
> 
> 2) If the URL is too long to fit on one line of an email message,
> (which can cause it to be broken between two lines which complicates
> going to it) you can easily make a short URL that goes to the
> document by copying the long url from your browser when you are
> viewing the document online and pasting it into the form at:
> http://makeashorterlink.com

Another site which does the same is <http://tinyurl.com/>.  And it's
shorter.  :)


> ....
> 
> 3) BTW the "www." portion of URLs is not usually needed (and should
> not be needed if the server is set up right (IMHO :) so if you use
> "http://"; you can drop the "www." and still be clear that you are
> listing a URL.  Thus
> http://cohousing.org        instead of
> http://www.cohousing.org

This really isn't a wise recommendation... if you want others to be able
to reach the intended URL.  Whether the "right way"(TM) or not (and I've
never read or heard of dropping the hostname from a URL being the "right
way"), many web servers aren't set up to accommodate such aliasing,
meaning that the user will encounter one of those cryptic errors and
probably won't know how to fix it or even whether it is fixable.  Typing
in "www" isn't really that much work.  Nor is reading it.  Let's not
institute a cure which can be more problemmatic than the problem.


-- 
As a statistic, the US Unemployment Rate is like saying that no one is
drowning because the flood waters have risen only five inches today.