link syntax

 link syntax  is a way of expressing a hyperlink with a URL and link text, in a plain text document, such as Markdown, MediaWiki syntax, etc.

Markdown
[linktext](URL)

Markdown criticism

 * Not memorable
 * “I can barely ever remember the order of the markdown [] vs ” “url first? text first? url goes in the round ones or the square ones?” (2016-04-27 IRC)
 * “I can never remember the right way to do links on github (whatever flavor of MD that is)” (2016-04-27 IRC)
 * @evilgaywitch “Only so many times you can forget how the fuck to do a link [in Markdown] before you just use raw HTML” (2014-09-17)

MediaWiki
[externalURL linktext] linktext

MediaWiki criticism

 * Hard to remember
 * “ is it [] or or {} and is the text first or last”

Usability considerations

 * URL-first is better
 * “URL-first makes sense to me.” “Link text is optional, so makes sense to come after the link.”
 * “URL first makes sense cause it's the closest to the HTML I would write instead”
 * “url[space]link text is easy to remember because you can't have spaces in URLs”
 * counterpoint: “url first to me is wrong because i'm writing text and *then* want to have that text get a link”
 * undefined tends to agree. “I chose linktext before URL in my syntax, because the linktext is what a user is reading first and foremost more than the URL it links to”