The illustrated guide to linking

When you've thought about posting for a review, or perhaps entering your first contest, you might have been stymied by this text:

All entries/post must use a bitem/citem/Item link (whichever one they are specifying!)

What the heck is a bitem, item, citem? And how do I do it? Where does the number come from to put into the brackets and stuff?

Someone might have said type this {bitem: 1234567} but delete the space between the colon and numbers.

The item number comes from your port. Click on MY PORTFOLIO link up above this (under the navigation icons.) Examine your port, find the titled article/item you want to link. Next to the title is a six number ID number. This is the number you link. You can either copy it into your computer ram or write it down on pen and paper.

Still baffled or want more types of links?

Scratch your head no more! I've illustrated what the links look like when properly typed into a message forum text box, and how those same things are displayed.

This picture displays three of your options: item, bitem and citem. You'll notice that the item tag just gives you a clickable title. That doesn't work in most review forums or contests, where they want to be able to see the cotntent rating. If you slip a letter c or b in front of the item tag, you've made either a bitem or a citem link!

Now, that's nice, but how will it look?

These are displayed in the same order they were typed in: item, bitem, citem. There are some subtle differences between the citem and bitem, mainly how compressed it is and where the ITEM ID number shows up. (The purple text is just to remind you which link type is which, and is not displayed when you post.)

Additional Link Types

The following are some seldom used linking types, the most common being item, bitem or citem.  The text is taken from an email, by Wannabe , and the descriptions are direct quotations from her email.

"gitem = shows genre in description

litem = gives the title and the user link

titem = gives the title and the last post time made

ritem = gives the title and the item rating"

Make sure you type the links the way they are pictured below:

How they will be displayed is explained by Wannabe , as listed in the above quote.

This is a screen shot how how they actually look when posted, in the same order given.

Thanks to Wannabe for her explanations and pointing out the need to add these link types :)


Note: All images use with permission of Writing.Com.
Note: This documentation was originally created by past member: Pita