New Message: Enhancement request: simple message references

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A new message was posted:

Address: http://manila.userland.com/discuss/msgReader$1534

By: Matt Deatherage (frontier at gcsf.com)

I can't remember if I've asked for this before, but since I need it just about every day, it probably won't hurt to ask again.

There is still no /easy/ way for a news item to link to other news items, which is one of the essences of blogging. Every message has a number, and it's easy enough to find it by hovering over the "Discuss" link for a news item or reading its URL. But if I want to make a link to a news item from another message, I either have to use the full URL (which makes it hard to change the URL of the site, something Manila docs warn against in other places), or I have to use the unwieldy "relativeLink" macro with a complete partial path, as in:

\{relativeLink("here's my link", "/discuss/msgReader$929")}

Even that URL is not the one used by the "permalink" capability, and unless I use that one, it {relativeLink("fails for trackbacks", "/discuss/msgReader$1108")}.

I'd like a very simple, global macro that creates a link to a message or story by number for your site. That is, I'd like:

\{msgLink(1488, "here's my link text")}

instead of:

\{relativeLink("here's my link text", "/2005/12/20#a1488")}

..which generates the same link that the permalink facility does. I still think permalink should link to the message on its own page, but that's {relativeLink("another enhancement request", "/discuss/msgReader$1108")}.

Oh, and when Manila mails a message with these macros to a managing editor, the links should be resolved and formatted - the E-mail shouldn't contain raw, unprocessed macros. IMHO.

This is a Manila site... http://manila.userland.com/.