Introducing an Easy Tool for Generating Text-Specific Links in HTML and Markdown
In today’s digital documentation and communication workflows, referencing exact sections of web pages with precision is increasingly important. Google Chrome’s support for Text Fragments, activated via the #:~:text= URL parameter, allows users to link directly to specific snippets of text on a page—simply by right-clicking and selecting the relevant option.
While this feature is highly convenient for quick sharing, many professionals, such as technical writers and developers, often require a more versatile way to embed these links within their documentation, comments, or code. Specifically, they need ready-made HTML <a> tags or Markdown links that include specific text references.
The Solution: An Automatic Link Generator
To streamline this process, I developed a lightweight, user-friendly tool that automatically converts selected text into complete link formats—either HTML anchors or Markdown links. You can try it out at: https://link-to-text.github.io/.
Development Journey
The project was built in approximately one hour, with additional time invested in refining the JavaScript code to ensure a smooth experience. I also added enhancements like favicon previews and link previews to make the generated links more informative and visually appealing.
Seeking Feedback and Community Input
I’m eager to hear how others facilitate similar tasks. Do you manually generate these text-specific links? Whether in your browser, integrated development environment (IDE), or other tools, your insights would be valuable.
Feel free to explore the tool and share your thoughts or suggestions. My goal is to help fellow writers and developers save time and improve accuracy when referencing specific content on web pages.
Summary
- Chrome’s Text Fragments (
#:~:text=) enable linking to specific text snippets. - Many need to embed these links as HTML or Markdown formats.
- A simple, automated tool was built to generate these link formats effortlessly.
- You can test and use the tool here: https://link-to-text.github.io/.
I look forward to your feedback and to seeing how you incorporate this into your workflow!
