What

How

Option 1. Copy and paste the link from the address bar in your browser or from wherever you have a copy of the link address saved. Another way is to just type it in one character at a time. Like http://msn.com. NOTE: It should look like the link going to the msn.com web page above.  This method will show the full address in your posting. 

 Go to http://vccachat.org/

1. Click on ENTER THE CHEVY CHATTER FORUM
2. You may need to enter your password.
3. Find or create the topic you want to post under.
4. Type the text you want in the post.
5. In the location that you want to put the link, copy the full web address in or just type it in. (http://....)
6. Click on the "preview post" button. Your post will show as it will look when visiting your post. 
7. Check to make sure that the link works by clicking on it. If it does a new window will open and display the page you entered for the link.
8. Close the new window and the preview screen and click "post message".
9. Your post and your link should be on the chat site!

Option 2. Using the Instant UBB Code method:

Go to http://vccachat.org/

1. Click on ENTER THE CHEVY CHATTER FORUM
2. You may need to enter your password.
3. Find or create the topic you want to post under.
4. Type the text you want in the post.
5. In the location that you want to put the link, click the "URL" button under "Instant UBB Code". (to the right of the Instant Graemlins)
6. Follow the instructions in the window that pops up. This is where you will enter the URL link of the website or page you want to add to your post.
7. http:// will already be there, you just add in the rest. When done click OK.
8. Now you will be asked to enter the title of the web page that you are going to refer to. This is where you can customize what you would like to say, for example you could type in (32 Chevy luggage rack). The default is web page. 
9. Click on the "preview post" button. Your post will show the link to the website or page as it will look when viewing your post. In this case it should look like this: 32 Chevy luggage rack
10. Check to make sure that the link works by clicking on it. If it does a new window will open and display the page you entered for the link.
11. Close the new window and the preview screen and click "post message".
12. Your post and the link you entered should be on the chat site!

A Techie Description:
Here is a little background and information regarding web addresses. Think of it as a networked extension of the standard filename concept: not only can you point to a file in a directory, but that file and that directory can exist on any machine on the network, can be served via any of several different methods, and might not even be something as simple as a file: URLs can also point to queries, documents stored deep within databases, the results of a finger or archie command, or whatever.

Since the URL concept is really pretty simple ("if it's out there, we can point at it").

The URL specifies the Internet address of a file stored on a host computer connected to the Internet. Every file on the Internet, no matter what its access protocol, has a unique URL. Web software programs use the URL to retrieve the file from the host computer and the directory in which it resides. This file is then displayed on the monitor connected to the user's local machine.

URLs are translated into numeric addresses using the Domain Name System (DNS). The DNS is a worldwide system of servers that stores location pointers to Web sites. The numeric address, called the IP (Internet Protocol) address, is actually the "real" URL. Since numeric strings are difficult for humans to use, alphneumeric addresses are employed by end users. Once the translation is made by the DNS, the browser can contact the Web server and ask for a specific file located on its site.

HTTP stands for HyperText Transport Protocol. HTTP servers are commonly used for serving hypertext documents, as HTTP is an extremely low-overhead protocol that capitalizes on the fact that navigation information can be embedded in such documents directly and thus the protocol itself doesn't have to support full navigation features like the FTP and Gopher protocols do.

Here is an sample of address location on the web. A file called "foobar.html" on HTTP server "www.yoyodyne.com" in directory "/pub/files" corresponds to this URL:

        http://www.yoyodyne.com/pub/files/foobar.html

If you want some more information regarding the above, click on the link below.                     Anatomy of an URL

If you have any questions or need further assistance send an email to chevyjim@cablespeed.com.