5 ms·

The way to remember that is that the link is important. For example, [[www.example.com]] makes sense.. it will render as www.example.com that hyperlinks to tha

The way to remember that is that the link is important. For example, [[www.example.com]] makes sense.. it will render as www.example.com that hyperlinks to that link. But [[link description]] is useless by itself. So.. put the more important thing first, the link: [[www.example.com]] Now, if you also have a description text for that link, put that afterwards.. [[www.example.com][link description]] Hope that helps.

vidarh 9y ago
Often the link description is the most important thing, and may make sense without the link, so I'm not sure how well that would work. To me putting the link first is extremely counter-intuitive, as if writing plain text I'd also be more likely to write out a description of what I'm referencing first, and then enclosing the link in parentheses. Thankfully with Markdown that makes it easier to remember - the URL part is as it always was, and I just need to mark which part of the text makes up the description.
- Moyamo 9y ago
  In html the link comes first <a href="link">Link Text</a>. So I would bet that most people are more comfortable with the link coming first.
  - Jaxan 9y ago
    I'd argue that if you are writing text, you'll put the description first and then look up the link. Because the description is often part of the sentence, and the link is not.
    - masklinn 9y ago
      In fact you may write the entire thing first then look for whatever can or should be hyperlinked.
  - vidarh 9y ago
    Most people wouldn't be able to explain to you what a HTML tag is, much less write one. And the entire point of Markdown is to get something that is closer to how we write plain text.
  - nathan_f77 9y ago
    I'm more comfortable with the text coming first, followed by the link. The rails `link_to` helper is: > link_to "Text", "http://example.com" http://example.com" And Markdown: > [Text](http://example.com http://example.com) It's pretty easy to remember the order after a while.
- jbb67 9y ago
  Clearly the link is more important than the link description. There is a really surprisingly good document [here] that explains why in detail :P
  - acoard 9y ago
    You never should use "here" for links. It's bad semantics for hyperlinks, and there could be tens of thousands of links with the title "here." Compare: > [The W3C recommends not using "here" or "click here" for links.](https://www.w3.org/QA/Tips/noClickHere https://www.w3.org/QA/Tips/noClickHere) According to the original vision of hypermedia, the text should be able to stand on its own and the hyperlinks are added on top of it. This keeps the link text semantic by itself without relying on the hyperlink.
okonomiyaki3000 9y ago
Short of explicitly labeling each part (which would not be in spirit of 'lightweight markup'), it's hard to imagine any link/description markup that is completely foolproof. The advantage over markdown here is that you are really only likely to get one part of the links wrong: the order. In markdown, you might also get them out of order but you may get the brackets wrong too. Then, having realized something is wrong, fixing it way more complicated. With Org-Mode, you notice your link isn't working right so you swap the order and you're done.

vidarh 9y ago

Often the link description is the most important thing, and may make sense without the link, so I'm not sure how well that would work. To me putting the link first is extremely counter-intuitive, as if writing plain text I'd also be more likely to write out a description of what I'm referencing first, and then enclosing the link in parentheses. Thankfully with Markdown that makes it easier to remember - the URL part is as it always was, and I just need to mark which part of the text makes up the description.

Moyamo 9y ago
In html the link comes first <a href="link">Link Text</a>. So I would bet that most people are more comfortable with the link coming first.
- Jaxan 9y ago
  I'd argue that if you are writing text, you'll put the description first and then look up the link. Because the description is often part of the sentence, and the link is not.
  - masklinn 9y ago
    In fact you may write the entire thing first then look for whatever can or should be hyperlinked.
- vidarh 9y ago
  Most people wouldn't be able to explain to you what a HTML tag is, much less write one. And the entire point of Markdown is to get something that is closer to how we write plain text.
- nathan_f77 9y ago
  I'm more comfortable with the text coming first, followed by the link. The rails `link_to` helper is: > link_to "Text", "http://example.com" http://example.com" And Markdown: > [Text](http://example.com http://example.com) It's pretty easy to remember the order after a while.
jbb67 9y ago
Clearly the link is more important than the link description. There is a really surprisingly good document [here] that explains why in detail :P
- acoard 9y ago
  You never should use "here" for links. It's bad semantics for hyperlinks, and there could be tens of thousands of links with the title "here." Compare: > [The W3C recommends not using "here" or "click here" for links.](https://www.w3.org/QA/Tips/noClickHere https://www.w3.org/QA/Tips/noClickHere) According to the original vision of hypermedia, the text should be able to stand on its own and the hyperlinks are added on top of it. This keeps the link text semantic by itself without relying on the hyperlink.

okonomiyaki3000 9y ago

Short of explicitly labeling each part (which would not be in spirit of 'lightweight markup'), it's hard to imagine any link/description markup that is completely foolproof. The advantage over markdown here is that you are really only likely to get one part of the links wrong: the order. In markdown, you might also get them out of order but you may get the brackets wrong too. Then, having realized something is wrong, fixing it way more complicated. With Org-Mode, you notice your link isn't working right so you swap the order and you're done.