Ok...let's try again.
Above the reply window (we know you've found that Rosa!
) when you make a post, there are a bunch of buttons - "B", "I", "U", etc. The first one in the second row says "http://" - that's the one I'm referring to.
As for what to paste and how to paste it - URL is an acronym for "Uniform Resource Locator" - also known as a web address. Usually they start with "http://" and then the rest of the address. For a little primer on URL's:
http://archive.ncsa.uiuc.edu/demoweb/url-primer.html (that address I just copied from the address bar at the top of my browser window and pasted into the reply window)
If you look at the top of your browser window, you will see the URL for the page you're looking at. This is the page's address. Some are short - top level or "index" pages - other addresses are long. Think of it this way - short addresses like "
http://www.excite.com" is like specifying a filing cabinet called "Excite". Longer addresses with several slashes in them are more specific - like specifying the filing cabinet, the section, the folder and the page in the folder. That's because web sites are set up with folders and folders within folders. Kind of like filing cabinets. (but I digress...this isn't really part of the instructions...
)
To copy a URL/web address, simply select it with your mouse (set the cursor at the beginning or end and drag across - it will become highlighted - blue usually), then press the command (apple) key and the "c" key together. You have now copied the URL to your clipboard (the virtual clipboard that exists within just about every Mac program). Now, place the cursor in the reply window where you want to place the link and press the command key and the "v" key together. Or, you can click on the "http://" button I noted above, and it will prompt you to paste the link in the little window, and then name the link. In that case, you will see a text link, rather than the actual web address. IE - it might say
"Excite" rather than
http://www.excite.comA note on copying and pasting - if you copy something to the clipboard, you will wipe out whatever was previously copied. So, you can only copy and paste one thing at a time.
As I also noted - for short web addresses, simply pasting in the address is fine. For long ones, which might cause the entire thread to stretch waaaaay out sideways, using the text link method is better.
You also might want to try the reply process with "Guided Mode" selected - it's at the top left hand side of the reply window. That way, any time you mouse over a button it tells you what it does.
