Publish News 8 July 2022
Where Are The Links?
To minimize broken external links, it is becoming common to list them in plain text at the bottom of a page. This establishes sources of information as a snapshot in time. ClinicalPosters began this transition years ago.
Since lists can get lengthy, they may be suppressed until a visitor logs in or hovers a cursor over the References area. Extra style classes shorten or expand them, depending upon the width of a browser window.
Originally, very basic pages with simple graphics, websites have become image-intensive information repositories. Ever-changing technologies have seen URL suffixes morph from HTML or PHP to none at all.
Ever Changing Contacts
Domains are eliminating the inclusion of the traditional www and, to accommodate billions of websites, ending with dot com is no longer as common. With companies retiring or revamping websites, many links break. To help maintain them, site tools like Ahrefs are available. Within a short time, many external links on your site can become as useful as a phonebook from the 1940s.
Before the mid-twentieth century, phone numbers within the United States lacked area codes. As a mnemonic, words or letters were used to identify telephone exchanges. Over time, the phone system underwent an overhaul. Manual switchboard operators were replaced.
Area code prefixes were added to identify regions. As the population grew in large cities, area codes were split or changed completely. When mobile devices became prevalent, the Wireless Local Number Portability Act made area codes incidental. Hence, phone numbers from 50 or 60 years ago are as useless as most website links from 1990.
All of this means that you are viewing fewer external links throughout stories and will most often log in to see references at the bottom of pages.
References
- Ahrefs. ahrefs.com
- Why Did Old Phone Numbers Start With Letters? mentalfloss.com/article/61116/why-did-old-phone-numbers-start-letters
- Cell Phone Number Portability Is The Law. cellphonenumber.phonebooks.com/cell-number-portability.html
