Remove 'globe icon' from wiki http links?

[OsakanOne]

Is there a way to get rid of this globe? Its really annoying.

​

 

[Nashoba]

It is technically feasible. But I think it is better to keep them because it is considered good web design to give the user an idea where a link is going to take them. Disabling that would mean that all a user would see is a link, no way to identify if its a internal link, external, wikipedia etc.

 

[OsakanOne]

...Wouldn't the URL itself in the address-bar (the fact its a different domain) and the change in web-design?

Or even when you mouse-over the URL?

That's an insult to our intelligence as users, surely.

Wouldn't a better solution just to have a different URL colour (pink for internal, blue for external?) so formatting is less dirty and messy? It also doesn't distinguish between external websites and our own domain (the forums) so when you link the forums, it shows an external link.

 

[Fred]

Y'know, I kind of mildly agreed with you, until this.

That's an insult to our intelligence as users, surely.

At which point I just felt you were carrying this too far, and that it really wasn't that big of a deal.

And, there's also what Nashoba said - good web design. I can look at the URL bar too before clicking, but not everyone is that web savvy. I can tell you my 16 years old kid brother is - I find - extremely negligent and takes what he does on the web much too lightly. I have to clean up crap on his computer all the time. Having a bit more information on the site that's labelled at a glance and available to colorblind people (I'm colorblind) seems like a good move to me.

 

[Wes]

This is a default functionality of our wiki software and I would prefer to keep it. Please note that you can also use a variety of other icons by using interwiki links like [[wp>Wikipedia]]

 

[OsakanOne]

Is there a way to use the wp feature to hide the icon in a specific case?

 

[Kyle]

Agree with Nash and Fred, there's no reason to disable it as it serves the purpose of giving users a notice (before clicking the link) on whether it is an internal or external link.

 

[Nashoba]

Unfortunately Osaka, there isn't, its all or nothing. If we turn off the globe we lose all the automagic external link identification.

Also, it is considered bad form to override the browser's color scheme for links.

 

[OsakanOne]

What a bother. I wanted to include schematic views linked to the width/height/depth view but the look of the thing is changing over time so the art changes too and I doubt the wiki wants to be filled with works-in-progress. And even then, if you make any url with http in it (even if its to the wiki), you STILL get the goddamn globe. Hurgh.

 

[Wes]

If you're linking to another page on the wiki, you should use a wiki link, not a full URL.

 

[Nashoba]

And your artwork should be on the site, so you would not need an external url.