Double PSA (I guess)
Oct. 9th, 2024 05:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
conulySo, bare URLs are potentially an accessibility issue. And I said that on reddit to somebody with this gargantuan link, like four lines long, and he replied that "back in the day" people had to post bare URLs "for safety".
Now, I don't know what day that was when most browsers didn't let you hover over link text to see where the URL leads, but you should absolutely be in the habit of doing that today because it's still pretty easy to spoof links in this way. Observe:
https://www.dreamwidth.org
If that link actually goes to Dreamwidth then I'll delete this post and you'll all win an imaginary gold star and so will that person, who also tried to tell me that viewing the destination of a link without clicking is not an option on all smartphones. A simple search suggests that, in fact, this is a standard feature of browsers, including mobile browsers, and I certainly hope so. If anybody out there is still relying on "oh, it's a bare URL" for safety then they are putting themselves at risk.
But I don't know, information doesn't spread out evenly, so maybe this will be helpful to somebody else.
Now, I don't know what day that was when most browsers didn't let you hover over link text to see where the URL leads, but you should absolutely be in the habit of doing that today because it's still pretty easy to spoof links in this way. Observe:
https://www.dreamwidth.org
If that link actually goes to Dreamwidth then I'll delete this post and you'll all win an imaginary gold star and so will that person, who also tried to tell me that viewing the destination of a link without clicking is not an option on all smartphones. A simple search suggests that, in fact, this is a standard feature of browsers, including mobile browsers, and I certainly hope so. If anybody out there is still relying on "oh, it's a bare URL" for safety then they are putting themselves at risk.
But I don't know, information doesn't spread out evenly, so maybe this will be helpful to somebody else.
no subject
Date: 2024-10-07 05:08 am (UTC)I like using naked URLs because (a) I know how to do that, (b) I like looking at a link and getting the gist of the article from the words included in it, and (c) I was frightened in my pram by one of those "tinyurl" things and have never trusted them again.
I agree about those alphabet salad URLs that could go anywhere and be anything, and are just crazy self-important..
no subject
Date: 2024-10-07 05:17 am (UTC)Well, most places that allow you to post URLs at all will allow you to use basic HTML or will even have some form of rich text editor. To make a link you use the a href tag.
And it does really seem to be an agreed-upon accessibility issue, unlike all caps which does seem to be somewhat overstated in the present day when it comes to screenreaders, anyway, though it's still just generally harder for people to read and should still be avoided for large passages.