When you type a URL or paste it into a message from another site normally it will “activate” and automatically become a link.  It will turn color and underline as you type.  However, sometimes you want to substitute the URL for a few key words.  Here is the process for doing that:

After typing, highlight the keywords you want to turn into a URL and click the create link button in the tool bar just above the message window:

(If you don't have this button, see the section below on "non-Internet explorer users")

The following dialog appears:

Paste (or type) the website address into the URL field and click Ok

The result should look like this:

Notes for Non-Internet Explorer Users:

Our forum software, Community Server, has a few quirks when using Safari, Firefox or other non-IE browswers.  You may find that you don't have a "create link" button!  In this case, you will have to use tags. 

Use the format:

[ url="http://www.mycoolsite.com ]This is my cool site[ /url ]

(remove the spaces around url)

Here is a sample:

The result should look like this: