>> As an alternative to patching the uses of `htmllink`, what do you think
>> about patching `htmllink` itself? Are there circumstances where it might be
>> used to generate a non-internal link? -- [[Jon]]
+
+>>> I think that the minimum configurability to get something that
+>>> can be used by CSS to style the links however the end user wants
+>>> is the best thing to shoot for. Ideally, no configurability. And
+>>> a tip or something documenting how to use the classes in your CSS
+>>> to style links so that eg, external links have a warning icon.
+>>>
+>>> `htmllink` can never be used to generate an external link. So,
+>>> patching it seems the best approach. --[[Joey]]
+
+>>>> I had a quick look to this issue. Internal links are generated at
+>>>> 11 places in the Perl code and would need to be patched (this
+>>>> number could be lowered a bit if a htmllink-like function existed
+>>>> for CGI urls; such a function would use `cgiurl`, and be used in
+>>>> most places where `cgiurl` is currently called by plugins).
+>>>>
+>>>> Also, more than 30 `<a>` links appear in templates, most of those
+>>>> being internal links.
+>>>>
+>>>> Sure, patching those few dozen places is trivial. On the other
+>>>> hand, I'm wondering how doable it would be to make sure, on the
+>>>> long run, any generated internal link has the right CSS class
+>>>> applied. One would need to write tests running against the code
+>>>> with all plugins enabled, all templates put to work, in order to
+>>>> ensure consistency is maintained. --[[intrigeri]]
+
+-----
+If you're going to be patching htmllink anyway, might I suggest something more flexible, like being able to configure the link format?
+(Yes, PmWiki allows this, that's where I got the idea)
+That is, rather than having "<a href=". blah . blah ...
+one could use a sprintf with a default format which could be configured in the setup file.
+
+For example:
+
+ $format = ($config{createlink_format}
+ ? $config{createlink_format}
+ : '<span class=\"createlink\"><a href="%s" rel="nofollow">?</a>%s</span>');
+ return sprintf($format,
+ cgiurl(do => "create", page => lc($link), from => $lpage),
+ $linktext);
+
+I admit, I've been wanting something like this for a long time, because I dislike the existing createlink format...
+
+--[[KathrynAndersen]]