Email Basics - Part One
Email Basics - Part One: Continued
FTP Basics - Part Two
FTP Basics - Part Two: Continued
Zip/Unzip Basics - Part Three
Graphics Basics - Part Four
Graphics Basics - Part Four: Continued
Icon Basics - Part Five
HTML Basics - Part Six
HTML Basics - Part Six: Continued
Text Editor Basics - Part Seven
Autoresponder Basics - Part Eight
Autoresponder Basics - Part Eight: Continued
Ezine Basics - Part Nine
Ebook Basics - Part Ten

Linking

When placing web addresses within an email message,
some email programs will automatically create live links with
web addresses beginning with "www." However, other email
programs will only create live links when the web address
begins with http://. To alleviate this problem, always include
the full URL beginning with http://.

The America Online email program is in a class of its own.
Their email program won't create live links with any form of
web address. In order to create a live link within AOL, you
must include a complete HTML link. To accommodate all of
your readers, consider including two links for each URL --
one beginning with http:// and the other with the complete
HTML link code.

When including an email address within an email message,
always include "mailto:" directly in front of the email address.
This will enable most email programs to create a live email
link. AOL will require the complete "mailto:" HTML code.

Another important consideration is the use of punctuation
with web addresses -- especially periods. Some email
programs will include periods within a live link. When clicked
on, the browser will return an error. There are a couple of
ways to alleviate this problem. You can enclose your web
address with brackets and place a period after the closing
bracket <http://www.yourdomain.com>. Or, you can place
your web address on a separate line like this:
http://www.yourdomain.com

When including a long web address within your message,
some email programs will force part of the URL to the next
line. When the live link is created, only a portion of the URL
will be live. When clicked on, the browser will return an error.
To avoid this problem, try to keep your web addresses short.
If necessary, you may want to consider creating a redirect
HTML page with a shorter URL.

The appearance of your email message is an important part
of your professional image. If you follow these simple
guidelines, you can almost completely alleviate these
potential problems.

Shelley Lowery
www.web-source.netCopyright ? Shelley Lowery 2002.

About the Author:

Shelley Lowery is the author of Ebook Starter - A complete
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