External links should point to '''primary sources'''. For example:
Using only primary sources makes our guide more succinct: where there is usually one or sometimes two primary source links for any subject, there can be hundreds or thousands of secondary source links. We also avoid subjectivity and conflict. It's difficult to decide collaboratively which of the thousands of English-language newspapers, magazines, and Web sites has done the ''very best'' travel article about New York, but it's quite easy for everyone to agree that http://www.nycvisit.com/ is the official city visitor's guide.
Official sites do ''not'' need to contain English text — pictures, prices, schedules etc can still come in handy, and some Wikitravellers will be able to read the language or use online translation services to decipher it.
'''Avoid linking to secondary sources''' - for example, avoid links to:
We should '''avoid links to other travel guides''', to ensure we have travel information ''in'' Wikitravel, not ''linked'' from Wikitravel. This is an incentive issue; if we have lots of links to other travel guides, we lose the impetus to create our own. In addition, one of our goals is to produce a guide useful for printing or offline use, and therefore we need information to be ''within'' the article rather than linked to at another site.
There are three possible formats for "external" links. For the sake of consistency, we only use the first:
Note that "http://" is included in the link. The software won't recognize a link if the "http://" is missing from a link.
There are three possible uses for external links:
What the reader expects to be at the end of a link, should be at the end of the link. A link to a service provider web page, where permitted by policy, should always be preceded by a mention of the service providers name in the text.
Remember that for print versions of Wikitravel, links will be presented in all their URLish ugliness. Readers of the print versions will have to ''type in by hand'' the URL that you add. For this reason, try to use the '''shortest URL possible''' for links, even if it means a little more work on the part of the reader when they click through a link. Where possible, try to trim out "housekeeping" stuff from the URL. You can almost always leave off "index.html", "index.htm", "index.asp" or "index.php" from a link, for example.
If http://www.example.com/ redirects automatically to a home page like http://www.example.com/home/index.asp?id=384&lang=en, use the shorter version, even though it's "really" going to the long version. Similarly, if http://www.example.net/ has a "splash screen" which eventually takes you to http://www.example.net/index2.htm or something, leave the top-level link in, even though the "real information" is located elsewhere.
'''Tip''': For many hotel chains, ''location''.''chain''.com works as quick and easy redirect. For example, Le Meridien Singapore can be found at http://singapore.lemeridien.com/ as well as http://www.starwoodhotels.com/lemeridien/property/overview/index.html?propertyID=1844&EM=VTY_LM_singapore_1844_overview, and the short version will not break when the chain changes its reservation system (which seems to happen every few months).
Of course, if the page you're linking to isn't at the "root" of the site, it makes sense to leave the path part of the URL in. Don't change http://examples.org/scottish-country-dance/ to http://examples.org/, since that top-level page probably doesn't have the same dance information.
This version of Wikitravel is for English-language speakers (but see language versions of Wikitravel). With few exceptions, it's preferable to include only links to '''English-language sites''' or pages. Sites don't have to be ''exclusively'' in English, but they should provide some English-language information that will be valuable to the traveller.
Many sites have the information in several languages, e.g., the local language and English. They handle this in different ways:
A link is not a substitute for actual information. Our goals include creating pages useful as printed guides. So, we need to include information that's at the other end of a link, even if it may seem redundant for on-line use.
For example, in a restaurant listing, get the address, phone number, hours, and prices for the restaurant, even if it's ''right there'' on an external Web page. Someone using a printed guide won't have access to whatever's on that page.
When Wikitravel articles are printed the Wikitravel stylesheets are set up so that the full URL of a link will appear in text enclosed in parentheses immediately after the link text. For example, an attraction listing would print as:
:*'''Asian Civilisations Museum at Empress Place''', 1 Empress Place, tel. +66 63327798, [1] (<nowiki>http://www.nhb.gov.sg/ACM</nowiki>).
We have a special format that features links to the Open Directory Project in a special part of the page - see Links to Open Directory.
We have a special format that features links to Wikipedia in a special part of the page - see Links to Wikipedia.
As Wikitravel is merging with World66, we have a special relationship with it that justifies an exception to the rule against linking to other guides. We have a special format that features links to World66 in a special part of the page - see Links to World66.