Guidelines for Inserting Links
Internal Hyperlinks
Links to other pages within the Dam Safety Toolbox are encouraged to facilitate navigation and exploration of the range of content on the site. If there are subtopics that relate to a given topic page, the inclusion of internal links to related subtopics should be included.
Internal hyperlinks can be created manually by including double brackets around the name of the desired page (e.g., [[Types of Dams]] will create a hyperlink to the Types of Dams page). Internal hyperlinks will appear as blue text that is underlined when a user hovers over it. If an internal hyperlink is defined for a page that does not exist, it will appear as red text and will take the user to the page creation editor if the linked is clicked. To customize the text of the hyperlink, insert a pipe or vertical bar after the name of the page (e.g., [[Types of Dams | many different kinds of dams]] will create a hyperlink to the "Types of Dams" page, but the hyperlinked text will read many different kinds of dams).
External Hyperlinks
To minimize maintenance and the potential for broken hyperlinks, hyperlinks to external websites should be used judiciously. It is appropriate to include external links if a reference is a webpage or some other document that is not publicly available. This may be the case for copyrighted material (e.g., building code) that is only available for purchase.
External hyperlinks can be created by including single brackets around the URL of the desired page (e.g., [https://damsafety.org/] will create a numbered hyperlink to the ASDSO's main webpage as follows: [www.damsafety.org]). External hyperlinks will appear as purple text that is underlined when a user hovers over it. To customize the text of the hyperlink, insert space and text after the URL (e.g., [https://damsafety.org/ ASDSO's site] will create a hyperlink to ASDSO's main webpage, but the hyperlinked text will read [www.damsafety.org ASDSO's site]).
| Type | Code | Displays As |
|---|---|---|
| Internal Link (Basic) | [[Types of Dams]] | Types of Dams |
| Internal Link (Custom Text) | [[Types of Dams | many different kinds of dams]] | many different kinds of dams |
| External Link (Basic) | [https://damsafety.org/] | [1] |
| External Link (Custom Text) | [https://damsafety.org/ Association of State Dam Safety Officials website (accessed December 22, 2022)] | Association of State Dam Safety Officials website (accessed December 22, 2022) |
Auto-Generated Hyperlinks
Each time a page is saved by a user, a MediaWiki extension is also run to automatically create internal hyperlinks to pages that match the exact text on the saved page. If the auto-generated hyperlinks are not appropriate or desired for a given page, the link can be deleted and text excluded from auto-linking by adding the "noautolinks" command (e.g., <noautolinks> there are many different types of dams </noautolinks>. In this case "types of dams" would typically generate an auto-link to the Types of Dams page, but the use of the "noautolinks" command excludes the entire phrase "there are many different types of dams" from internal auto-linking).
