Period at the end of a link or not?

[Combs, Richard]

J Wermont wrote:
 
> Wouldn't adding a period at the end of a link change the 
> link, and make it invalid? That is, isn't
> 
>    http://www.xxx.com/blah 
> 
> different from
> 
>    http://www.xxx.com/blah.
> 
> ? When the browser tries to load the latter, it would get a 
> 404 error, I would think.

Well, I haven't received SB's query, so I can't comment on that other
than to suggest putting the link on a line by itself preceded by "To
download XYZ, go to:"

But as you can see above, the period you added to the 2nd example isn't
part of the link and doesn't break it. Probably, your email client was
clever enough to do the right thing for you when it automagically
converted your text into a hyperlink. But you can do the same thing
manually in whatever authoring program you're using. 

You specify the hyperlink destination and the link text (blue
underlined, or whatever less clear formatting you prefer). If you don't
include the period in either, then everything's OK for both those
clicking the link and those copying it into their browser. 

Assuming your readers have been using the Internet for more than about
10 minutes, they'll know the period sitting to the right of the
underlined link isn't part of the URL. :-)

Richard


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Richard G. Combs
Senior Technical Writer
Polycom, Inc.
richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom
303-223-5111
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rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom
303-777-0436
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