autolink
This article is a stub. You can help the IndieWeb wiki by expanding it.
An autolink is a hyperlink that was automatically added to some text to link that text to an obvious or useful destination, like hyperlinking a URL in plaintext to the URL itself, linking hashtags to search results, and @-names to their profile pages.
Contents
IndieWeb Examples
Tantek
Tantek Çelik posts plain text notes on tantek.com which are autolinked (URLs, @-names) with the CASSIS auto_link function since 2010-02-16.
Hans Gerwitz
Hans Gerwitz renders notes with a Markdown processor that autolinks URLs for him at publish-time, but intends to implement view-time after suffering the pain of importing thousands of pre-processed notes from Twitter.
... many more ...
Feel free to add your site if you also support posting of notes with autolinking, and note since when.
Open Source
See CASSIS auto_link function for a fairly good (and selfdogfooded) open source autolink implementation for PHP&JS.
Silo Examples
Most silos autolink URLs, some autolink hashtags & @-names as well (Twitter, Instagram).
On Publish Or View
It deserves consideration whether autolinking is applied at the time of publishing or the time of viewing.
In favor of publish-time:
- process once
- preserve author intent
In favor of view-time
- adapt to changing link targets
- allow for user preferences (e.g. what site should a #hashtag or @username link to?)
Brainstorming
New ideas for autolinking to consider implementing.
Flight status and tracking
FlightAware links can be automatically constructed from flight codes! E.g.
- Flight code: UA59
- Link to live status / map: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/UA59
