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Why all these %20 that I constantly see when I copy a site’s URL on EDGE on my iPhone to post it on Facebook?

Anonymous
2021-02-15T00:57:58+00:00

I see them all the time. Is it just how the Apple iOS deals with blank spaces in website links to make it more readable even if it does make it long as heck? That’s always been my guess. 

ADDED WITH EDIT:

I just clicked this link on my Windows 10 pc and it also has those %20 things breaking up the words in the URL. So, I guess every browser and/or OS needs those?

Here’s an example and a PrintScreen of where I copied it from:

https://www.dfeh.ca.gov/peoplewithdisabilities/#:~:text=Ensuring%20Equal%20Access%20for%20People%20with%20Disabilities%20The,that%20protect%20people%20from%20discrimination%20based%20on%20disability.

Microsoft Edge | Other | iOS

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  1. Martmcd 19,965 Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2021-02-15T01:35:16+00:00

    Hi Jeff

    %20 is indeed the HTML URL encoding for a space, all browsers will use this in the address bar.

    you might find this of interest

    https://www.w3schools.com/tags/ref_urlencode.ASP

    Note: This is a non-Microsoft website. The page appears to be providing accurate, safe information. Watch out for ads on the site that may advertise products frequently classified as a PUP (Potentially Unwanted Products). Thoroughly research any product advertised on the site before you decide to download and install it.

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  1. Anonymous
    2021-02-16T06:38:45+00:00

    Thanks Firedog for trying to teach me some good stuff but unfortunately some or most of it is above my level of understanding. Let me ask you this. You said 

    *"It will soon be possible to do this yourself, by highlighting the specific bit of text you'd like to link to, then right-clicking on it and selecting Copy link to text. This feature is currently being tested in preview versions of Edge, but if you can't wait, there's an extension in the store*that does the same thing."

    So, I hope you know that this happens to me on an iPhone that I put EDGE on so that it can use my Favorites off both my Windows PC and the Mobile Favorites on either device. If I'm on a site and I want to send myself or anyone the site's URL and I tap the Share button at the bottom of the page and then I choose to Share it with the Outlook for iOS app, it puts that link in the email body with all those %20 in it. 

    Sometimes I do this so that I can then Copy that URL and never send the email, and then just go post it on Facebook. But it is so stupid and long with all those %20 things if it is in a Comment. 

    If I just want to post it on Facebook, I could have just Shared it directly to the Facebook APP but if I want to post it on my little custom Group page facebook.com/groups/obamaville which is #PresidentialLeadership or Lack Thereof | Facebook, I need to Copy the link so that I can Paste and Post.
    I've learned that on Status postings on Facebook, once their site or APP recognizes the first site URL in any posting, it will turn that one into a clickable image. In Status postings you can then Delete the site URL but in Comments, you need to leave it in there.

    So, they look stupid in Comments when they're really long. After saying all that, what were you trying to teach me with that paragraph of yours that I pasted & italicized above? I didn't understand that.

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  2. Anonymous
    2021-02-16T01:09:29+00:00

    Just FYI, the URL you quote illustrates a recent innovation that makes it possible to highlight a specific portion of text when following a link to a web page. You may see it when searching; Bing shows snippets from the pages they list on their search results pages, and the URL will sometimes point to the snippet. When you follow a link like this, the page scrolls automatically down to the snippet and highlights it. This can save a lot of scrolling and squinting on a smart phone if the bit you were searching for is a long way down a long page.

    You can tell that the URL you quoted is one of these: at the end of the address of the page (https://www.dfeh.ca.gov/peoplewithdisabilities/) you'll notice this weird bunch of symbols: #:~:text=. What follows is the snippet to be scrolled into view and highlighted, with all the spaces replaced by %20 and other disallowed characters also replaced by their %-encoded equivalents. Sadly, it doesn't appear to work in this case, probably because the snippet mixes a heading with the text.

    It will soon be possible to do this yourself, by highlighting the specific bit of text you'd like to link to, then right-clicking on it and selecting Copy link to text. This feature is currently being tested in preview versions of Edge, but if you can't wait, there's an extension in the store that does the same thing.

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  3. Anonymous
    2021-02-15T04:49:30+00:00

    I pretty much knew that this had to be the purpose for all those %20 since if you have a space in the site’s URL, any browser will just ignore whatever is written after that. 

    It is odd that on TV sometimes I’ll see them display it with spaces, as if that’s how you’d enter it and they have a .com at the end. 
    Something like: Visit All dogs need food .com

    That obviously isn’t really what they want you to type into your browser but I see things like that on TV all the time.

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  4. Anonymous
    2021-02-15T02:21:52+00:00

    Thanks. That’s what I’ve thought all along. I won’t follow that link but maybe somebody will that finds this will. I know this stuff pretty good. 
    My Malwarebytes Pro runs in the background & I have it set to block (quarantine) all PUPs, which I’ve always known as Potentially Unwanted Programs, that might try to be installed without your permission by the bad guys. 
    One odd thing that I’ve learned about Malwarebytes Pro is that it will also sometimes block a program download installation that I’m trying to do. Then I just right-click the Malwarebytes Pro icon in the Task Bar by the clock and turn it OFF.  Then a Restart after my installation will turn it back ON automatically.

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