<a href=URL>your description of Url</a>

so you use firefox? if so there is a super duper add on that lets you hilight anything on the webpage you want to link to and once you hilight any word you just right click and choose from the menu copy as html link. It is with out a doubt the easiest way to do it. It is found on the firefox add-ons site called copy as html link.
Copy as HTML Link 1.1
Just another great reason to use firefox!

caroline what you are doing there [url] is bb code and it does work on many forums but this forum uses html code so you have to use html tags. Here is a little chart of the most common tags.
HTML Basic Tags and Samples

What I do - and its easy, I copy the address in the address bar (highlight & Right click-copy) I paste it in the box under this box "Optional Link URL" and put a name or comment in the box underneath "Name of the Link". You can call it anything you want. Then hit Preview Message, and you'll see your clickable link.
This is the link to my other favorite place,

Here is a link that might be useful: try it, its easy

that works fine when you only have one link you want to post but if you have more than one you have to be able to do some html. The way this forum is set up is very strange as compared to most forums, would be nice if it were more like regular forums where you could just use the url tag button in the reply box.

There was, and may still be a little glitch in in 'Optional Link URL' feature. There was a time when some forums at gardenweb.com did not show this option until after one clicked on preview message and then returned to this frame.

Does anyone know if this glitch is still out there?

I have noticed on mine when I am the one creating a new topic the text box does not contain the optional link url box below, it is there now as I am doing a reply to an existing post.

I am happy with one link. I do the same with emails only that is just a paste in the body of the letter.

Jane

I can post them on forums as follows[url] name of site[/url] but that doesnt work in e mails....how do you do THAT??

Personally I like links of one word or phrase that conveys a bit of meaning but I got to wondering - does anyone know how big or small Firefox's HTML Link 1.1 can be?

If I go to the Test Forum will the size limits be determined by Gardenweb or by Firefox?

I have used a two letter word with the firefox html link, as far as I can see you can hilight any thing at all even the word a would work, I will hilight the word a in your post above and link it here:
a

I absolutely love that add-on I use it more than any others.

In an email all I do is type the actual url and it is automatically created as a clickable link, do you have html enabled in your email?

raven - thanks for the FF HTML link. I just installed it. I did go to a site, enabled the right click ( I have a Mac-can't rt click on mouse) hilited the article, rt clicked - send as HTML link. It sent the link and the entire article. How would I send just the clickable link to the article and not the entire article?

caroline - apologies in advance for asking this question on your thread - "I just want a simple way to turn a site into a clickable link,,,," Me too - and I have a Mac!

oh no no you just hilight one word or a key phrase from the article not the entire article, then right click on that one word or phrase and choose the html option then paste to the spot you want. Then you will have a link with just that word or phrase showing but when clicked on it will take them to the page of the article.
For example from your reply above I am going to hilight my name there at the beginning only, and paste it back here as the link.
raven

see? just higlight the word or phrase, any word or phrase on the desired article or site and that is all.

Thanks so much - it is toooooooo easy! I was trying to make it difficult & did!

Some forums and the comment sections in some blogs don't use the "" but rather brackets "[" and "]". Has some kind person who writes Firefox add-ons addressed this too?

albert there are indeed some for bbcode, I have not found one that functions exactly like that html one however. One that I also use is Colt:
CoLT makes it easy to copy either a hyperlink's text or both the link and the link's text (in a format you specify). Two handy context-menu items make this possible, and don't add clutter; the items are only visible when right-clicking a link

Colt lets you make any already clickable link copyable in bb code, you right click on the link, in your menu you will have the option that says Copy Link text and location as > when you hover over the > the list will have several options including html and bb. So you can use Colt to copy it as either html or bb. But it has to be a clickable link already.

another one is BB Tags:
Right click on a link and select Copy Link. This will add the BB formatted link to your clipboard ready to be pasted into a new message in a forum
BB Tags I have never used this one so don't know exactly how it works but apparently you use it to click on a picture and it will add the tags to the picture.

***Ahhh I think I found it! IT is called Make Link. IT allows you to use clickable links OR any selected text on a page, hilight it, right click and in the new menu box the item will say Make link> when you hover over > the options are HTML, Forum link (which would be bb), or Text.
Here is the home page of the author,
Make Link
Make Link 8.07 from mozilla site to install to firefox

I may need to grab that one too.