Can reference superscripts & external link characters be more clearly different

Question

Our profile pages show references in bracketed numbers as a superscript and external links also as bracketed numbers, but on the line.
I feel that those not familiar with profile creation may miss the bigger story from external links.  
I include external links to old newspapers, but a casual reader may think the bracketed numbers for these links are references and not click on them.
Is a new symbol an idea? Or using an inline text hyperlink?

Comments

I updated 2 profiles a little so you have some examples and sent you some messages.

Answer 1

The answer is: you should never put brackets around external links, unless you include anchor text.  https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Help:Adding_Links

Bare URLs without the brackets are fine. Formatted links with anchor text are also fine.

I'm actually completely confused why it's so common to put the brackets around urls, because they work just fine without them. I assume it's a convention that people got from some other website. All the examples for formatted links that are provided (including those directly on the edit page) include anchor text.  You're right that it's confusing, especially when people use them together with inline citations, or bulleted source lists.

Comments

I agree with Brad about using anchor text and never just having an obscure number in square brackets for an external link.

For a different approach to Denis's question, however, note that the WikiTree Browser Extension can vary the appearance of the superscript numbers for inline references, maybe giving something people will prefer. See the WBE Readability Inline Citations documentation.

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In the case where you're looking at other people's badly formatted profiles, that's probably a good stopgap measure, and a decent suggestion.

It's not a substitute for good formatting and biography writing, I want to emphasise, though. When writing your own profiles, or editing other profiles:

* [https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Help:Adding_Links adding links] (correct)
* https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Help:Adding_Links (correct)
* [https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Help:Adding_Links] (wrong)

Another good, ultimate, solution would be for wikitree to stop formatting the bracketed urls as numbers, and use the urls themselves as the anchor text.