Help:Create an external link

Quick Reference: On the page where you want the link to appear, type: visibletext where " http://hyperlink " = the url of the website you want to link to (including http:// ), and "visibletext" = the text users see on the page and will click on to be directed to the other website or url.

What is an external link?
An external link is a link in FamilySearch Wiki article that sends users to another website outside of the FamilySearch Research Wiki. In other words, if users click on an external link, the link will send them to a different website, rather than to an article in the FamilySearch Research Wiki website. Links that send users to other articles in the FamilySearch Research Wiki website are known as internal links.

Does the text on the page have to match the website address or url?
No. Occasionally, it may be helpful to include entire urls on a wiki page, however, many website addresses, or "URL"s are long and not very easy to look at. For example, below is a link to the United States National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) to order old military records:

https://eservices.archives.gov/orderonline/start.swe?SWECmd=GotoView&amp;SWEView=GPEA+Product+Detail+-+Features+View+FFO&amp;SWEHo=eservices.archives.gov&amp;SWETS=1199728061&amp;SWEPostnApplet=GPEA+Product+Form+Applet+FFO&amp;SWEPostnRowId=1-N9YP

Rather than include several of these on a page, an article is often more readable by "masking" the url. This means that the users don't see the url. Instead they see words that they can click on to get to the correct location or website. Below is a masked link that will take users to the same website as the link shown above:

Learn how to order United States military records online.

This link is much easier to read, takes less space, and helps users understand what they will find by clicking on this link.

How to create an external link

 * 1) Log into the FamilySearch Research Wiki.
 * 2) Navigate to the page where you want to add the external link. Click "Edit" in the navigation bar page options. This will open the editing window.
 * 3) In the editing window, type the text you want to create the link with. Remember, this should help the users understand what they will find by clicking on the link.
 * 4) Using your mouse, position your cursor in front of the text you just typed. While holding down the left mouse button, drag the cursor across the text until it is highlighted. [[Image:HighlightTextEditor.png|border|center|350px]]
 * 5) On the editing toolbar, click the hyperlink icon. It looks like a tiny earth with two chain links in front of it.[[Image:HighlightTextEditorhyperlink.png|border|center|350px]]
 * 6) After clicking the hyperlink icon, the "Link" window will open.[[Image:LinkLinkWindow.png|border|center|300px]]
 * 7) At the top of the "Link" window, locate the "Link" box. Here you will type or paste the url or website to which you want to link. The website must begin with "http://" or "https://" for the link to work correctly.
 * 8) Once the correct url or website appears in the "Link" box, click "OK" to save the link in the editing window.
 * 9) The text that you highlighted in step 4 will now appear blue in the editing window.
 * 10) Save your changes by scrolling down using the outside scroll-bar until you locate the "Save page" button located below the editing window.
 * 11) After clicking "Save page," you will be able to click on the newly created link to another website. NOTE: If the link appears red on the page, website was typed in incorrectly. Repeat the steps above, paying close attention to step 7.

Other Helpful Hints:


 * To link to another website, the url, or website address must match exactly. If there are any differences, the link will appear red on the page, and will not direct users to the intended website.
 * If the website was entered correctly in the "Link" box, the link will be blue.

To create an external link using wikitext:

 * 1) Type a single right-facing square bracket [
 * 2) Type or paste the url or website immediately after the single square bracket, without leaving a space between the bracket and the first letter or symbol of the url (website address). Remember, the url MUST begin with "http://" or "https://"
 * 3) If you want the url visible on the page, skip to step 5. If you want the url masked on the page, continue with step 4.
 * 4) After typing or pasting the exact url (website address) you are linking to, hit the spacebar once, and then type the text that you want to appear as the link on the page.
 * 5) Next type a single, left-facing square bracket ] without leaving a space between the bracket and the last letter or symbol of the url or text.

Example:


 * FamilySearch

The text above will appear as:FamilySearch even though the actual website url is "http://www.familysearch.org."

Tips
In the URL, include the http:// or the link will not work.

To edit existing links to websites, follow the same steps above.