Needing help with Anchor Links Within a Post

[Dova]

Forum URL: emmates.proboards.com/


Hi,

I also need help on anchor links within a post.

I am about to post something that would benefit with a table of contents that uses anchor links.

I have made a dummy thread testing out anchor links.

The posted method of:

[a target="_self" href="/thread/number/name/#anchor_name"]Link name[/a]
[a name="anchor_name"][/a]

This only works for post that is on the first page of this thread.

I have also tried:

[a target="_self" href="/post/number/#anchor_name"]Link name[/a]
[a name="anchor_name"][/a]

This also only works for post that is on the first page of this thread.

The difference between this and previous method is that the first method takes you to the part of the post right below the [a name="anchor_name"] (i.e. where this is placed is at the top of the screen when the anchor link is used).

The second method, however, takes you to the part of the post where [a name="anchor_name"] is about 18-19 lines below from the top of the screen (i.e. where this is placed is roughly at the middle of the screen when the anchor link is used).

And what I am having a hard time is, I am about to post some sort of an article that needs feedback within an existing thread in a hidden forum. And it won't be on the first page of that particular thread. And after I receive feedbacks on that article, the article is intended to be moved to a different thread that is open to public as some sort of a guide. Which is why I tested the second method hoping that it would not have dependency on the thread's url. However, both methods only works if the post is on the first page of its thread.

So, my question is, is there another way to do anchor links within a post that will work if the post is not on the first page of the thread and also works if the post is moved to a different thread later. (please note that I am only a "guest moderator" on the said forums, so I don't have access to global coding/plugins)

Many thanks in advance.
Dova

[Dova]

I have elaborate on my thread demonstrating the use of the 2 different abovementioned methods for implementing anchor links and how they behave in different situations.

There are 3 tests, please take a look at them to understand my concerns.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Dova

[David Clark]

Hi Dova, sorry for the delay in response.

I tried playing around with it and determined that I honestly have no idea what the specifics are with regards to anchor links in posts, as I've never used them before. If you'd like, I can tag this thread with a label for our devs to check out on Monday. One of them should be able to help you with the particulars of in-post anchor behavior.

In terms of your need for a link that leads to a post even if that post is moved later, though - when you click on the  cog dropdown in any post and then click on "Link to Post", the URL you're given in that text box will always refer to that post even if it's merged into another thread later, since everything has unique IDs now. If I were to link to your post above, for example:

http://support.proboards.com/post/5821352/thread
Notice that it's referencing the post's ID itself, 5821352. Even if this post is moved later, the ID will remain 5821352, and the URL will remain valid. This method will open the link in a new window, though.

[Dova]

Thank you David. That would be lovely. I look forward to having this figured out.

[David Clark]

Alright - I'll go ahead and apply the label and one of our devs should be able to shed some light on how anchor links in posts work these days.  I saw some other posts around here that attempt to make use of them, but it doesn't seem like those ones are currently working.

[Dova]

I did a bit research, both on BBCode and html code, it does seem that internal anchor links on forums only work on a post that is on the first page (preferably the first post) of the thread.

It would of course be nice to be able to use anchor links anywhere within a thread, but I suppose an alternative to internal anchor links would be breaking up an article into different posts in a same thread and link to them instead.

Keep up the good work!

[David Clark]

I see, Dova. Apologies on the lack of response - our devs have been occupied by some higher priority tasks and hadn't had a chance to break away from them to respond to Support threads.

Linking specifically to posts could be a good solution, but it would be nice if it was possible to click an anchor and have it change pages and scroll down for you. Instead of the "Attn Dev" label that lets our developers know someone's waiting on a response, I'll add on the "Feature Request" label that lets them know there's a good idea for future software updates in the thread.

[Dova]

Thank you David

[Dova]

Another update:

So much of my initial knowledge about anchor links are thanks to ₪» ⅀ ƪ Ƒ «₪'s post.

But I think I found out why the anchor links may behave erratically on rare occasions (if the anchor links are based on the thread's url and the post in use is the first post of the thread).

I find that taking out the a slash before the pound symbol in the anchor link would make it more stable.

Using ₪» ⅀ ƪ Ƒ «₪'s original example, it would then be:

[a target="_self" href="/thread/429762#introduction"]Introduction[/a]

And the anchor target:

[a name="introduction"][/a]

The anchor target doesn't really need any text, as it's not very useful to make the target clickable. So just place it before the title of the section you wish the anchor link would go. You may need to fiddle with where this is placed in your post, as different browsers may scroll a bit differently.

Hopefully this is helpful.