Note: h2g2 is divided into two systems which behave quite differently from each other. Pliny is the default, which you get to if you go to "h2g2.com". It's basically blue with a white background and is suitable for viewing h2g2 on most devices including tablets and mobile phones. Pliny should not be used to edit entries as it has bugs which may delete or garble your entry. Ripley is the older system and comes in a number of "skins": Classic Goo, Alabaster, Brunel and Plain. Ripley is less suitable for looking at entries on mobile devices but is essential if you want to edit them.

Switch display to Ripley | Pliny

Link in a Conversation to an Entry

Every entry has an identifier called an "A number". It is literally the letter A followed by a number. When you're looking at an entry, you'll see its A number at the end of the URL in your browser's address bar.

To make a link to an entry in a conversation posting, just put the A number in the posting. Make sure that it is not the first thing in the line.

• Not first in line: it will be displayed as a link in all skins.
• First in line: it will be displayed as a link in the old Ripley skins (Brunel, Alabaster, Classic Goo and Plain) but not in the Pliny system.

Link in an Entry to Another Entry

Plain Text Entry

If the entry you are linking from is in plain text, just put the A number of the entry you are linking to:

A87877444

If you are looking at it in Ripley (the Brunel, Alabaster, Classic Goo or Plain skins), it will be correctly displayed as a link. Unfortunately this will not display as a link in Pliny.

GuideML Entry

If the entry you are linking from is in GuideML, you use the LINK tag with the A number of the entry you are linking to:

<LINK H2G2="A87877444">Some text</LINK>

Some text

with a link on the words "Some text".

Link in a Conversation to Another Conversation

Linking to the Start of a Conversation

You can post a link in a conversation to the start of another conversation. This can be done in a way that will work in all the old skins and in Pliny.

1. Identify the forum number and thread number of the conversation you want to link to - you'll see these in the address bar of your browser. The forum number will start with F and have a number after it, for example F12345. The thread number may have T followed by a number or it may have "thread=" followed by a number.

2. Type the following all on one line without any spaces in between:

<./>

The forum number including the F

?thread=

The thread number without the T

</.>

For example:

<./>F22149243?thread=8316933</.>

This will create a link to the start of the conversation. In Pliny the <./> and </.> will be displayed around the link but won't do any harm. In Ripley (the old skins) these bits will be invisible.

Linking to the End of a Conversation

If you want to link to the latest posting of a conversation, you can use a similar technique but unfortunately it will not work properly in Pliny:

1. Identify the forum number and thread number of the conversation you want to link to - you'll see these in the address bar of your browser. The forum number will start with F and have a number after it, for example F12345. The thread number may have T followed by a number or it may have "thread=" followed by a number.

2. Type the following all on one line without any spaces in between:

<./>

The forum number including the F

?thread=

The thread number without the T

&latest=1

</.>

This will create a link to the end of the conversation, but this doesn't work in Pliny. In Pliny it will be displayed as a link to the start of the conversation with the text &latest=1 after it.

Link in an Entry to a Conversation

There are methods of linking that will work in Ripley and others that will work in Pliny but I have yet to discover a method that will work in both.

Some experimentation:

What actually happens to a LINK H2G2?

Ripley

The URL in your address bar is more than likely of this form:

http://h2g2.com/dna/h2g2/skin/Axxxxxx

When you click on a link in the entry, the A number is stripped off this and replaced with the text in quotes in the link tag. If the link is LINK H2G2="F22149610?thread=8316886", when you click on it the URL becomes:

http://h2g2.com/dna/h2g2/skin/F22149610?thread=8316886

In any Ripley skin, this will bring you to the first page of this conversation.

Pliny

The address in your address bar is more than likely of this form:

http://h2g2.com/entry/Axxxxxx

When you click on a link in the entry, the A number is stripped off this and replaced with the text in quotes in the link tag. If the link is LINK H2G2="../forum/F22149610/thread/T8316886", when you click on it the URL becomes:

http://h2g2.com/entry/../forum/F22149610/thread/T8316886

but the effect of ".." is to remove the previous foldername from the list, so it becomes:

http://h2g2.com/forum/F22149610/thread/T8316886

This is one of the correct syntaxes for a conversation in Pliny (there are others) so it is a valid link.

Another odd thing that might be relevant:

In Ripley, when a link is displayed and you hover over it, you get the destination of the link in the status bar. I presume this is the same as what you would get if you look at the source of the page. When you click on the link, you get brought to that location.

But in Pliny, the URL that is displayed when you hover over the link isn't always the same as the destination your arrive at. The link appears to be translated in the system. This is how a link which points to a Ripley-style conversation can bring you to a Pliny-style location.

Linking to GoogleMaps

You'll need the coordinates of the location in latitude and longitude. These should each be expressed as a real number of degrees, with a decimal part rather than minutes and seconds. For example, 53° 30' corresponds to 53.5. For latitude, positive represents North, while negative is South. For longitude, positive is East, negative is West.

The link is as follows:

http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=latitude,longitude&q=latitude,longitude&hl=en&t=m&z=15

You can make it link to a satellite view rather than a map view by putting t=h instead of t=m.

The z=15 is a zoom factor. The bigger the number, the more zoomed-in it is.

I think the q section is for the marker. Leave it out to get no marker.

The http can be https - it will work just as well, but links in h2g2 with https are misinterpreted by the Ripley skins, so better to leave it as http.