Markdown Link Generator

The four link variants

Inline, no title:

[Read the docs](https://example.com/docs)

Inline with title (hover tooltip):

[Read the docs](https://example.com/docs "Full documentation")

Reference-style (URL defined below):

Open the [docs][docs] or the [changelog][cl].

[docs]: https://example.com/docs
[cl]:   https://example.com/changelog

Autolink (URL is both text and target):

<https://example.com>

When to pick which

• Inline for occasional links where the URL is short and the paragraph still reads well.
• Reference-style when you’re citing the same URL multiple times, or when the URL is a 200-character tracking monster that would otherwise break paragraph flow.
• Autolink for “here’s our docs page” where you literally want the URL visible as both the text and the target.

Special-character hygiene

• Spaces in URLs need %20 or the link breaks at the space.
• Parentheses in the URL need URL-encoding as %28 and %29, otherwise the Markdown parser eats them.
• Square brackets in anchor text must be escaped as \[ and \] to avoid the parser treating them as nested link syntax.

Accessibility tips

• Avoid “click here”. Anchor text like click here or read more is useless when screen reader users tab through links. Use descriptive text: [installation guide](...).
• Don’t put the URL itself as anchor text for long URLs, it’s hostile to assistive tech and ugly in print.
• Open in new tab is raw HTML (target="_blank"), not Markdown. Most renderers that accept raw HTML will respect it; pure CommonMark won’t.

One-liner shortcut

In GitHub comments, pasting a URL next to selected text converts it to a Markdown link automatically. Handy when you’re already in the editor.