usually i write my emails so that any embedded URLs, like this:

http://www.pcwebopedia.com/TERM/U/URL.html

have a blank line above and below to provide easy extraction, especially if the URL wraps or is followed by punctuation. but for a week or so now i have been watching the traffic on www-style [1], and i’ve discovered a different approach that i like.

rather than breaking up the flow of a paragraph as i did above, people include a number in square brackets that refers to a URL with the same number at the bottom of the email.

what’s strange is that i can’t find any real tech savvy online references that mention this style. i’m not sure if this is just a social custom that people on the list have picked up, but in any event i thought i would record it here for posterity and conversation.

–justin

[1] http://www.w3.org/Mail/Lists.html#www-style

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