With more and more people reading, referencing, and linking to pages on this blog, it’s a good time to go over the proper way to link and point people to various articles.

A blog is kind of like a running newspaper or journal, with new entries constantly usurping the old and pushing them farther down (and eventually off) the page. Doing various searches in the archives will allow you to find the item again, but the archives are constantly in flux too, as new posts are created for each category.

So how best to hyperlink to the article you want to reference or tell others about? The answer is what’s called a “permalink.” This is a place where the article is presented all by itself, using a link that will never change no matter how other entries disrupt the various archive searches.

To find the permalink for a particular entry, simply click on the entry’s title:

This will take you to the permalink page, and the hyperlink you see there will never change:

Note where it says “p=130.” The “p” stands for “post #,” an individual number that doesn’t change, regardless of where the post travels in the archives.

So remember, to link to a post, first click on the title of the post to go to the permalink page, then use the link in the address bar of your browser window. If your link doesn’t say “p=” at the end, it’s not a good link and will change the next time we post.