Need help? Check out our Support site, then


WordPress.com Forums » Support

Automatic clickable link feature stopped working

  1. cpplan
    Member

    Until a few days ago, whenever I pasted a url address while in the "visual" mode of writing a new post, the link became automatically clickable. But something has changed, and now when I paste an url address it comes out as plain text. This is clunky and slows down my work.

    Example:
    If I copy and paste this: http://www.sunyrockland.edu/academics --
    It used to show up as http://www.sunyrockland.edu/academics
    Now it shows up as http://www.sunyrockland.edu/academics

    I'm using Under the Influence theme and Chrome. I did not change any settings, as far as I can tell. Can anyone help me change back to the way it used to work.

    The blog I need help with is costofcollege.wordpress.com.

  2. cpplan
    Member

    Argh! I tried to make the last link in my example to be non-clickable, but it seemed to automatically post as clickable. Let me try again and see if this works:

    Example:
    If I copy and paste this: http://www.sunyrockland.edu/academics --
    It used to show up as http://www.sunyrockland.edu/academics
    Now it shows up as http://www.sunyrockland.edu/academics

  3. 1tess
    Moderator

    Where do you see this happening? A link to that post or page would be useful.

  4. cpplan
    Member

    It seems on this forum I CANNOT make a link unclickable, even if I paste as plain text. Anyway, my problem is that when I post on my blog, this auto-clickable feature stopped working. I would appreciate any ideas to fix this.

  5. cpplan
    Member

    1tress -- Since this problem occurs as I'm writing a new post, I cannot link to the post since it is in draft stage and not yet published. Let me see if I can get a screen shot, but that may be too advanced for me. :)

  6. cpplan
    Member

    Maybe this will work to illustrate my problem. (I added a space to the last example to try to make it unclickable.)

    Example:
    If I copy and paste this: http://www.sunyrockland.edu/academics --
    It used to show up as http://www.sunyrockland.edu/academics
    Now it shows up as http: //www.sunyrockland.edu/academics

  7. cpplan
    Member

    Restating my problem:

    Until a few days ago, whenever I pasted a url address while in the "visual" mode of writing a new post, the link became automatically clickable. But something has changed, and now when I paste an url address it comes out as plain text. This is clunky and slows down my work.

    Example:
    If I copy and paste this from the website: http://www.sunyrockland.edu/academics --
    It used to show up as http://www.sunyrockland.edu/academics
    Now it shows up as http: //www.sunyrockland.edu/academics

    The only way to make the link "live" is to use the editor with the chain link icon. This now adds an extra step, which I did not have to do before a few days ago. Any ideas?

  8. raincoaster
    Member

    Staff are constantly tinkering, and this is likely something they've done deliberately by request. Best practice is to attach links to underlying text, such as Academics so you might want to switch to that. Or simply write in the Text editor, which will make those links live when you publish.

  9. cpplan
    Member

    Thank you, raincoaster. However, I tested it using the Text editor and this does not make the link live when I publish. (I tried it with the Preview feature, which does show which links are live.) So perhaps the staff changed that feature, also.

    In any case, this change only affects me during the writing/editing phase. As a general rule, I always attach links to underlying text when I actually publish a post. But when I'm writing/editing, I am often working with many links, using them as resources for my post. Removing the automatic link feature adds steps and slows me down.

  10. raincoaster
    Member

    I wonder if staff have changed the theme permanently then.

  11. cpplan
    Member

    I just noticed that this feature also changed on my other blog that uses the Twenty Ten theme.

    It's a mystery why staff would want to change this. Removing the automatic clickable link just adds another step for the writer or reader. They did not change this feature for comments to the blog.

  12. jenia
    Staff

    @cpplan: hi there! The best practice for adding link is typing the text that you want to use for your link, for example, Academics, then clicking the link button in the editor to add the URL to it. When you insert a link this way, most browsers (e.g. Safari) will allow you to right-click the linked text and visit the link itself.

    WordPress.com is used by millions of bloggers, and everyone has their preferred ways of writing/editing, so whenever something changes, even if it's a small thing, some people want to have it changed back. In the long run, though, those who can adapt, continue to benefit from new and improved features. Please give it a try for a week or two and let me know if you are used to it by then.

  13. cpplan
    Member

    jenia - Thank you for your response! I'll give it a week and then let you know.

    If you have a chance, in the meantime I'd like to know what benefit this change offers? And if this is in fact an improvement, does WordPress plan to make the same change to blog comments, to this forum, and other places?

    Can you tell I'm skeptical that this change is an improvement for anyone? :)

  14. cpplan
    Member

    Sorry for the formatting problem in my previous comment - not sure what happened.

  15. jenia
    Staff

    Hi there, we are constantly tweaking and experimenting with features. I don't have anything specific to share about how inserting a link in the comments would work at this point. (And I fixed the formatting in the previous comment for you:)

  16. jenia
    Staff

    @cpplan: on further investigation, it seems like this change in autolinking was not intended. I'll looking further into this, stay tuned!

  17. cpplan
    Member

    I will stay tuned (and keep my fingers crossed)!

Topic Closed

This topic has been closed to new replies.

About this Topic

Tags