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I note the WS algorithm occasionally fails to linkify an address and curious about this apparent shortcoming. Example, in one of Jackie's posts toward the end of from the bad news department(?)

I use the term "linkify" to denote the automatic detection and transformation of an address (also called URL?) into a form immediately clickable without the need for highlighting or accessing a dropown. In this process it turns the address blue and underlines it, in more sophisticated algorithms also foreshortening it

My questions are three: (1) Why doesn't cickification always occur; (2) what are the acceptable terms for "linkify" and "clickify" and (3) isn't URL just a sophisticated synonym for "address" and if not why not


dalehileman
dalehileman #185350 06/15/09 03:04 PM
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Probably you've already been there, but if not

http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc1738.html


Ceci n'est pas un seing.
zmjezhd #185351 06/15/09 03:42 PM
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Thank you zm for the link but for a typical old fart like me, it might as well have been written in Sanskrit


dalehileman
dalehileman #185353 06/15/09 06:37 PM
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Ah, Dale, sometimes , occasionally the linker doesn't do what it should do. Then you try again and it works. Or you refresh your mouse's contents and it works. Or not.

BranShea #185357 06/15/09 08:17 PM
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1. I don't know. It could be some browser setting or it could be some setting at certain sites. It might also be a particular editing mode you are using. Or it could be some invisible characters sneaking in.

2. I'm not sure about "linkify" or "clickify," but the intent seems obvious, so you shouldn't hesitate to use them, if there is no better word. "Clickable" is a very common usage. We used to use the word "Hyperlink" as both a noun and a verb. So "I will hyperlink that." One could say "Hyperlink a URL," but it may be ambiguous.

3. A URL is more than an "address," although some of the information may be implicit. The address is derivable from the URL. The URL specifies a protocol (http, telnet, etc) and can contain other stuff (like port numbers, user names, passwords). The wordsmith.org is not the "address."

TheFallibleFiend #185358 06/15/09 09:12 PM
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Fal thank you, I was much surprised to learn that I hadn't invented "clickable" while "hyperlink" as a verb indeed serves for "linkify". I gather then that "wordsmith.org" is a hyperlink and so is what Bran refers to as a "linker".

But I'm not sure whether a URL always qualifies. For a while I was unsuccessful clickifying on one until I discovered they didn't respond if preceded by "/http:/" Meanwhile however this proviso must have been dropped because lately URL's containing it have been eminently amenable to clickification

As for URL, yes my IT No. 1 Son has attempted to explain in much the same terms but with little enlightenment on my part. But your efforts are appreciated


dalehileman
dalehileman #185369 06/16/09 12:50 PM
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People in technical fields like computer science, IT, (or physics for that matter) very often adopt improper use of words for informal usage. It can make for interesting confusion at times. There are a number of reasons why this happens:
sometimes someone doesn't understand a thing and uses the word incorrectly and the incorrect usage catches on (internet and web are probably describe the same thing for most people, but technically they are different);
other times someone takes a word and uses it to express a more general idea.
There are other reasons, but all of them, I suspect are the same kinds of reasons that words change meanings in the rest of human discourse.

The words you have chosen clearly convey some kind of meaning. By themselves they might be a little ambiguous, but in context, I think the meaning is clear in most cases.

TheFallibleFiend #185577 07/01/09 09:11 PM
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Fal et al: Thank you for your support. We may have discussed it before in another thread which however I can't find, but I wonder if anyone can explain the difference between a link and a hyperlink. I've Googled it as follows, but I'm still in the dark

http://www.w3schools.com/HTML/html_links.asp

Also I'm curious what the link (?) in the form of a word or phrase which the user has substituted for the usual URL-derived coding, is called and whether "Reply", Quote," "Quick reply" etc at the bottom of a post qualify in this way


dalehileman
dalehileman #185579 07/01/09 09:41 PM
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Dale,

I'm not sure. Here's what I think:

1. "Hyperlink" is short for "hypertext link."
2. Link is often (usually) just short for "hyperlink."

That is, sometimes "link" is synonymous with hyperlink.

HOWEVER, in computer science and even in web stuff, link has a more general meaning.

According to some references, the word link in web parlance can also refer to stuff that is "pointed to" but is not necessarily clickable. For example, if you were to bring in an image using img src, it might not be clickable (unless you put an href around it). In this view, all hyperlinks are links, but all links are not hyperlinks. That is, hyperlinks are clickable; links may or may not be clickable.

In more general CS terms, a link is a "pointer" or a "reference" to something else. A linked-list, for example is a data structure composed of "records" or "structures" in which each record has a "pointer" to the "next" record in the list.

So generally, a "link" is a mechanism for connecting things in different places.

dalehileman #185598 07/02/09 02:29 AM
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From Onelook:
Quick definitions (hyperlink)

▸ noun: a link from a hypertext file to another location or file; typically activated by clicking on a highlighted word or icon at a particular location on the screen

Quick definitions (link)
▸ noun: (computing) an instruction that connects one part of a program or an element on a list to another program or list

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