h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Maybe the external links could be more clearly marked as such, with their own little header, at least?

I'd also like a one-sentence explanation of why that particular link was chosen and what it is - a short description like we have for the EGEs, perhaps - but that would probably require a FP redesign...

Both good points

After 6 months of regular reading, I've just signed up here to support this posting; I use H2G2 as an anti-boredom device at work, but the sites I can visit are strictly limited by our firewall... It can be so frustrating to be following links to learn about new topics only to have the "You have tried to visit an unauthorised website; this has been reported!" page flash up on my screen

During the signup process, there was a lovely image notifying me of links that led to popups; something similar would be greatly appreciated for links to external sites - not just on the Front Page, but within entries as well.

For links within entries, you're safe to use the links in the 'Referenced Entries' section in the right side bar. The 'referenced Sites' section below that, links to external sites, so you'd best avoid those.

It's the links that are in-line within entries that are the problem... They're far too tempting, and for longer entries it's a pain to scroll back up* and look to see if might be internal or external, and there's no guarantee that the link titles in those sections will match up with the sometimes single word used in the text as a teaser.

*I'm too impatient

right-click, copy the link address, paste into a new tab - look what it is before you hit "return"

If you are in IE (as I am at work under similar such firewall restrictions), hover the mouse over a link. The address appears at the very bottom of teh IE window. Then you can see if it's a BBC link.

That works in most browsers, but all links are internal on h2g2.

All external links are routed through the BBC's /go/ page, for record-keeping purposes. So if you see that a link begins with www.bbc.co.uk/go/, then it's an external link.

TRiG.

Alternatively, you could try the pda skin, in which all external links have been hidden.

TRiG.