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Formatting Hyperlinks
Episode 78: October 05, 2007

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Grammar Girl here.

Today I'm going to talk about how to format Web addresses for print documents and websites.

URLs and Terminal Punctuation

A listener named Aileen recently asked how to deal with a Web address at the end of a sentence. Should she put the period or other terminal punctuation mark at the end of the sentence as she normally would, leave the period off so the reader doesn't mistakenly include it in the address, or do something funky such as put quotes around the Web address?

Most of my books don't cover URL formatting, but The Chicago Manual of Style, which is probably the most comprehensive guide when it comes to formatting, says Web addresses don't need special treatment. So put the punctuation in just as you would if the sentence ended with a word or a number. [At least one online style guide agrees (1).]

Full URLs Versus Abbreviated URLs

Whether you should write out the full URL including the “http://” and “www” part is a matter of style (2). If you're including a Web address in a list of references and you're using a specific referencing style like Chicago, MLA, or APA, then you follow their specific recommendations; but if you're writing an essay or e-mail, then the style is up to you or your boss or teacher. Some people prefer to write out the entire address, whereas others prefer to write the shortest address possible that will still work when you type it into a Web browser. (Every browser I'm aware of will take you to the right page even if you leave off the “http://www.”) Just decide on a style and stick with it.

Active Links

Nancy in Shawnee Mission, Kansas, wanted to know if her students should make their URLs live hyperlinks.

If you're writing a document that will only be read in print, then there's no reason to make the link active; it will just show up underlined in the printout, which is unnecessary. I've included instructions on the quickanddirtytips.com Web page for this show on how to remove hyperlinks in word processing programs.

On the other hand, if your document will be on the Web or in an e-mail message, do make the link clickable so it's easier for your readers to visit the page (3).

Long URLs

The next problem you are likely to encounter is what to do with a long URL. You know what I mean: one of those URLs that seem to go on forever with equal signs and question marks and lots of numbers.

The most important thing is that you should not use a hyphen at the line break. That will definitely confuse people because it's common for URLs to have internal hyphens. And if there is a hyphen in the address, don't make the line break right after it; that will confuse people because they won't know whether you are improperly inserting a hyphen to mark the break or the hyphen is part of the address.

Instead, if you have to wrap the URL to a new line, find a natural break like a slash, dot, number sign, or other symbol. Again, use common sense: don't break a URL right after a period or readers might think the period marks the end of the sentence. If you break at a period, make the break before the period so it starts the new line.

The new Grammar Girl website seems unable to handle long URLs; every time I include one in the references it refuses to wrap and messes up the page formatting, which makes everyone cranky. So lately I've been using URL shortening services like TinyURL and urlTea as an alternative to wrapping long URLs. These services are very simple: you go to their website, paste in your long URL, and they spit out a much shorter URL that goes to the same page.

Click Here and Underlining

A few other points about hyperlinks and websites --

When you're turning words into links on a webpage, link the words that best describe what you are linking to instead of putting in self-conscious words like click here (4, 5). A site called “Web Content Design” made a point that I think is worth repeating: The text should make sense without the hyperlinks, which argues against adding words like click here.

Also, it's best to avoid underlining things for emphasis on websites because underlining marks hyperlinks. I know that it's possible to make links any style you want if you fiddle with the code, but underlining is the default style for a link, so if you underline text, some people are going to think it's an active link (4).

Book Winners

We have three more book winners this week. James, Taciane, and Patricia are all subscribed to the free e-mail newsletter and will receive a copy of my audiobook, Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips to Clean Up Your Writing.

You can sign up for the newsletter by using the blue button in the sidebar at quickanddirtytips.com, where you can also find a transcript of this podcast, my contact information, and all the other great Quick and Dirty Tips podcasts. This week Legal Lad is talking about how much power the U.S. government has to restrict your right to assemble.

That's all. Thanks for listening.

References

1.“World Wide Web Style Guide,” Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering Website. May 5, 2006, http://www.eas.asu.edu/guidelines/style.html.
2.“World Wide Web Style,” University of Colorado at Boulder Style Guide. 2002, http://www.colorado.edu/Publications/styleguide/www.html.
3.“Internet, Web, and Other Post-Watergate Concerns,” The Chicago Manual of Style Online, Fifteenth Edition. http://urltea.com/1o0g.
4.“Writing Style,” Web Content Design Website. 2005, http://www.webcontentdesign.com/wcd/writing/Writing.asp.
5.Nielsen, J. “Terms to Avoid,” Writing for the Web. Santa Clara: Sun Microsystems, http://www.sun.com/980713/webwriting/wftw7.html.

Additional Information

How to remove the active hyperlink in an Open Office document on a PC or a Mac:

1. Highlight the text.
2. In the Format menu, choose Character (or hit the key sequence Alt-O-H on a PC).
3. In the Hyperlink tab, delete any text in the URL box.
4. Hit OK.

How to remove the active hyperlink in an MS Word document on a PC or a Mac:

1. Put your cursor anywhere in the link.
2. Press Control-K (Command-K for a Mac) to bring up the Edit Hyperlink menu.
3. Click Remove Link in the bottom left corner of the menu.

Comments (26) for Formatting Hyperlinks | Subscribe to Comment

Cory Says:
4/12/2008 7:02:32 PM

"Every browser I'm aware of will take you to the right page even if you leave off the 'http://www.'" As others have mentioned, this is bad advice because it is incorrect. Leaving off the http:// is mostly optional since most every browser will add it behind the scenes. However, browsers have nothing to do with whether or not the www is required. That, instead, depends on the Web site's domain configuration. Most savvy Web developers, including me, configure their domains and the www subdomains to lead to the same spot, but some don't. Before deciding to leave off the www, always test it out. Don't make the assumption that the .www. is optional — sometimes it isn't.

Teri Greene Says:
1/8/2008 6:35:38 PM

There's no need to bother with testing a URL before writing it. Just make these two things your habit: If it has "www," write www.webpage.com If it doesn't, write http://webpage.com Then it always works and no one's confusillated.

Judy Hultin Says:
11/20/2007 10:25:04 AM

I'm glad you're in the Seattle Times (and probably lots of other newspapers). I used to be an English teacher in San Francisco in the late 80's/early 90's. Keep up the good work!

Julian Goldman Says:
11/10/2007 12:11:06 AM

Dear Grammar Girl I must quibble with your advice to follow style guides for printed URLs when using electronic correspondence. Although it is tempting to discard the www of a URL based on a stylistic choice, there are URLs for which the target web page depends on the inclusion of the www preface. (For example, try http://asahq.org or asahq.org, and when you give up, add the www. http://www.asahq.org.) Technically adept message recipients may retry the URL with www added, but many people are stymied by the hyperlink dead-end, and give up. Therefore, I recommend that writers test the abbreviated version, especially if the recipient is unsophisticated in the ways of the Internet. Furthermore, I recommend including http:// since it usually activates the auto-URL feature of programs, enabling a simple click-to-follow-the-link capability. Similarly, including end-of-sentence punctuation may derail an email reader who uses cut-and-paste to transfer URLs from an email to a browser address line. This issue seems to be more prevalent in emails, which encourage cut-and-paste behavior, than with printed documents. I realize that I m no match for the Chicago Manual of Style in these matters, but I believe that facilitating usability is essential and should not be subjugated to internet-unaware style rules. Perhaps as the Internet matures these points will no longer matter, but today they do cause confusion. Please keep up the erudite, informative, and entertaining podcasts.

Melissa Donovan Says:
11/6/2007 2:35:25 AM

Hopefully underlining hyperlinks will become standard in popular style guides. It's frustrating to see underlining on web text that doesn't link to anything. The default underline is there to help people spot links quickly and easily. Thanks for this one Grammar Girl! -Melissa Donovan Writing for Writers

Patrick Says:
10/17/2007 12:54:40 PM

I don't fully agree with the statement about making all your links clickable when it's online. When a link is clickable, visitors expect that link to work. Well we have an archive of newsletters and research reports online. We don't want to spend the many hours needed to double check links.

Carl Says:
10/15/2007 7:38:27 PM

The other thing I've found is that leaving the "www." off a URL can confuse some readers; they appear to be using it as a cue that the address should be typed into a browser rather than, say, an email program. Some aren't sure what to do with "grammar.quickanddirtytips.com". In an age of abundant scams, I also worry sometimes about whether people will trust a tinyurl link. After all, it just zaps you directly to a website without you seeing the URL first. But I haven't heard complaints about that one yet.

Andrew Says:
10/11/2007 10:40:13 PM

I thought that you might enjoy this link. It's a site dedicated to common errors in the English language. https://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/errors.html#errors

Jasmine Says:
10/11/2007 3:50:14 AM

Hey Grammar Girl. I have recently been introduced to your show and have been used it as a guide to grammar. However, I would like an episode or for you to give me your opinion or facts on indenting as an indication of a new paragraph or skipping a line for a new paragraph. My teacher tells me to skip a line, but I reckon she's not entirely correct as in books of literature and other books I have seen people indent their paragraphs. Please help!!

Ori (ISRAEL) Says:
10/10/2007 9:49:42 AM

Hello, and Shalom from Israel... i just saw your saw at Oprah (we get it some weeks later) anyway... about the 'affect' 'effect' issue, i got much simple solution... the A' at the word affect, could associate to the word Action (since it's a vert) and what's rest belong to wots left (cough, the noun) much easier i think then the story with the crow, about the whom who thing... i didn't know what u need "him" for whom and "he" for who, so it's good to know, although i think ppl hardly use the word 'whon' cause its hard to pronounce...thank u for the short help, hope u like my new solution :) peace

Christopher Kata Says:
10/10/2007 8:33:48 AM

As an SEO I listen to Grammar Girl all the time. So when this topic came up it moved me to comment. When writing Press Releases and articles that will be distributed online it's critically important that these two items be met: 1. Hyerplinks be added to Anchor Text relevant to the topic and destination URL (usually the clients site) 2. That an active hyperlink and URL be included at least in the footer (usually pointing to the clients site)

Julie Says:
10/9/2007 11:22:31 PM

Thunderbird and similar email programs have a nice feature. When composing an email, click Insert on the tool bar. Write in a short title for the link, and then paste the link in the appropriate box. You no longer have to worry about http or www. You can name the link anything you want.

Julie Says:
10/9/2007 11:15:45 PM

karenh Says:
10/9/2007 1:08:58 PM

James is right that a period immediately after a URL is treated as part of the address by certain email software. To avoid breaking the link, the obvious solution is to leave a space between the end of the URL and the period. Omitting the period is also an option, but some people (myself included) feel unsettled leaving a sentence open like that.

Jess Says:
10/9/2007 10:42:49 AM

Regarding "click here" or "click" as text for hyperlinks: If you want your online document to be accessible to users with print or visual disabilities, you need to use descriptive text with your links. Many users of screen readers will opt for a menu of available links on a page. If all of your links say "click here", that's all the screen reader will give the user. Choose more descriptive text like "more information about Squiggly" to alert the reader to what's on the other end of the link. For more accessibility information, visit the Web Accessibility Initiative at www.w3.org/WAI

JD Says:
10/8/2007 8:04:24 AM

On the publication I work for here in the UK, it is our house style to leave off the stop (period) if a sentence ends with a web address. Also, we bold up web addresses in normal copy; if the copy is already bold, we colour the address in red. Might be strange, but it helps with clarity. Incidentally, we also leave off the http:// wherever possible if the address starts with a http://www. Here's my own blog: http://engineroomblog.blogspot.com

Mario Says:
10/8/2007 12:48:54 AM

I second the comment about removing the "www" from an address. The technical reason is that if the address is not defined without the "www" part in the DNS database, it will not find the page.

Keith Says:
10/7/2007 2:32:05 AM

One other thing I forgot. A quick way to remove a hyperlink from a document in MS-Word is to place the cursor immediately following the last hyperlinked character and press the key (delete on the Mac). This will remove the hyperlink in most versions of Word.

Keith Says:
10/7/2007 2:27:59 AM

I wanted to follow up on jpreardon's point. If you're going to leave off the "www" or any other part of a url when it's included in a document, test it first.

SAM Says:
10/7/2007 12:31:42 AM

Bring back the convenient "Print" feature. Soon.

Caroline Says:
10/6/2007 9:38:24 PM

A hyperlink in most Word2003 documents comes up on their own when you type them in or paste it in. Like the previous person noted I definitely would make sure that the sites are being verified before adding them into any document that has my name on it.

James Says:
10/6/2007 4:52:28 AM

two things. The writer should be checking the references they make, so if they want to list the site without the "www." I would assume they are checking that it would work that way before they actually do so. And in email, often anything followed by "http://" up to the point of a space will be treated as a hyperlink, without you having to specify it. In these instances a period at the end of the sentence WILL become part of the URL and may in fact break the URL.

Amy Says:
10/6/2007 12:38:15 AM

I use <> around addresses if I think it will be confusing in a document. Also, if I am writing a document for someone who isn't very computer savvy, I usually put a space between the address and the period if it falls at the end of the sentence: You can find more information at www.google.com . It looks a little weird and probably isn't in any style guide, but it's worth using to make sure the person types in the correct address.

Brandon Says:
10/5/2007 8:14:37 PM

Also, in MS Word (2007, at least), you can just right click on the link and choose "Remove Hyperlink".

rpmason Says:
10/5/2007 2:29:56 PM

JP's right. The opposite is true too. www.grammar.quickanddirtytips.com isn't registered as a domain name and you see a page-not-found error.

jpreardon Says:
10/5/2007 8:53:09 AM

As usual, good advice. But, writers might want to be careful about one point. While the "www." in front of most URLs might seem superfluous, that complete address does point to a particular place on the Internet. In most cases, a URL with or without "www." will point to the same place. This is not always the case though and omitting this part of the address might render it unusable. To ensure that readers get the proper reference, it is a good idea to see how the site in question refers to itself and stick with that.

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