Frequently Asked Questions - Forum section

We don't like people advertising their interests on our forums without contacting us first. Such material will be removed.

Creating a link in a forum thread or comment box saves you displaying the lengthy internet address of the page or photo you wish to 'link' to your readers as it can sit behind one word or short phrase. Like many things in life, once you know how to do it, inserting a link is easy but there are a few things that can catch you out. These instructions show you how to place a link into your reply to a Forum thread. If you are already familiar with hyperlinks, click this link to an excellent step-by-step video by 'dougv' which will take you through the process; the instructions below are a 'mandraulic' explanation for those perhaps less familiar with the hyperlink process.

Let's imagine that having read a Forum thread, you want to reply and highlight a website, product or photo to other readers; the 'ePHOTOzine/ FAQ/Forums/How do I Create a Link?' page will be used in this example. First, you will, of course, need to be logged in to ePHOTOzine. Logged in and ready to post your reply, you might want to capture the details of the web page you want to link to first, this saves having to leave the forum page once you start your message; the order won't matter so much when you become familiar with the whole process.

Step 1 Go to the top of the page you want your message to link to. Locate the address line ( http://www.ephotozine.com/question/Forum-section/106#question9 ) of the FAQ page and highlight the whole text; placing your cursor over the line and clicking will do that. Now, press Ctrl and C at the same time to copy the address line which will then be parked somewhere in your computer which we don't need to know about but will return to later - computers are good at waiting!

Step 2 Return to the thread in the Forum which you want to place your message and link. In the 'Post a Comment' text box, type your message, for example:

Hi, I have found a good link to the Frequently Asked Questions page of ePHOTOzine which you can find here.

Step 3 We are now going to put the link address behind the word 'here' so:

Highlight the word 'here' in your message text and then press the 'Insert Link' button. Depending on your computer configuration, one of two things will happen:

1. A Windows-style dialogue box will appear which will ask you to place the address into the text box. Remember the address we copied in Step 1? Place your cursor in the space within the dialogue box and then press Ctrl and V at the same time; the address that we parked will now be inserted. Press OK and the link will now sit behind the word 'here' - job done. Preview and then post your reply.

2. If the Windows dialogue box does not appear, you may see something like this inserted into your message around the word 'here':

Hi, I have found a good link to the Frequently Asked Questions page of ePHOTOzine which you can find
[link =null]here[/link]. (space after link and before = so it displays here)

Don't panic, we are almost there despite the slightly different approach.
Highlight the word 'null' (just 'null' - don't include the = sign or bracket) and then hold down Ctrl and V at the same time which will paste the address into the link and give you the following script:

Hi, I have found a good link to the Frequently Asked Questions page of ePHOTOzine which you can find
[link =http://www.ephotozine.com/question/Forum-section/106#question9]here[/link]. (space after link and before = so it displays here)

You are now ready to preview the message. When previewing your message, ignore the odd-looking script as all the brackets and addresses disappear when you post the message to the Forum; the link will be behind the word 'here'. Post the message when happy.

Step 4 If you have trouble seeing the Windows dialogue box, you might try scrolling up to the Task Bars of your Browser where you may see a message which starts along the lines 'the website is using a scripted window..etc'. Click on the Task Bar message and you should see the message 'temporarily allow scripted windows' 'allow by clicking on it. On the Task Bar, you should also allow ensuring that 'pop-ups are not blocked'.

We hope that between the video tutorial and the written instructions that creating links will become second nature.

These are moderators. They are part of the team who help to keep an eye on the forums and galleries.
See " What does an ePHOTOzine moderator do ?" under the ePHOTOzine features heading.

These are people who work at ePHOTOzine.
Further information on who they are and what they do can be found here.

The little smiley faces are called emoticons and are used to convey emotions when you post.
They show automatically when you type certain characters like this (but without a space between the characters):

= : ) is a happy face
= ; ) is a winking face
= : ( is a sad face
= : P sticking tongue out
= : D is a grinning face