Adding an alias to a raw url.

[John Gruber]

Steve Cooper <steve at stevecooper.org> wrote on 11/15/05 at 4:37 PM:


>     [myweb](http://my.web.com)

> 

> I have a couple of questions. First, would this combined form cause

> any problems?

> 

>     [myweb]<http://my.web.com>

> 

> I'm thinking that this form makes it easier to add an alias to an

> existing link.


You mean that this:

     [myweb]<http://my.web.com>

would produce the exact same output as:

     [myweb](http://my.web.com)

I can see the argument, but I'm not sure it'd be worth adding the
rule to the syntax.



> Second, why aren't http urls automatically treated as links? That is,

> why are these not equivalent?

> 

>     Go to http://www.google.com and search!

>     Go to <http://www.google.com> and search!


Because if URLs were generated automatically, how would you produce
a URL that you did *not* want linked? Doing it automatically reminds
me of Microsoft Word, which tries to be smart and turn every URL
into a link. But most people have no idea how to type a URL in Word
that *isn't* a link.

-J.G.