julian

I wanted to write “please matrix me!” with “matrix me” being a hyperlink to my matrix identity. Why should this be hard?

I wrote (in markdown mode, using Element-web/desktop): please [matrix me](https://matrix.to/#/@julian:foad.me.uk "@julian:foad.me.uk")!

This was formatted into HTML (by Element-web/desktop) as: please <a href=\"https://matrix.to/#/@julian:foad.me.uk\">matrix me</a>!. Already we've lost the “title” part of the mark-up. Let's consider that a separate issue and continue by looking at how clients render this resulting HTML.

How did clients render it? Ordered roughly best to worst.

good?	client	rendered	notes
☑	Hydrogen		a pill with my given text “matrix me” inside it, and my initial in place of avatar.
☑	Nheko		a plain hyperlink
☑	matrix-static/view.m.o		a plain hyperlink
!	Element (web/desktop) edit mode		a pill with my avatar and my given text “matrix me” inside it. Different from view mode!
-	Element (web/desktop, Android)		a pill with my avatar and username, losing the link text that I specified.
-	Fluffychat (desktop, Android)		a pill with my avatar and username, losing the link text that I specified.
-	Syphon		plain text, losing the hyperlink.

Differences in styling are not the issue, such as colour and shape and whether and how they display an avatar. Clients should differ in style. The issue is about functionality: it is a problem if the link text or the link target are lost.

The first three are good (correct link text and hyperlink). The last three are all bad. (And the middle one in that table is technically correct but is a weird inconsistency in the UI.)

Why should this be hard? Sigh.

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#matrix

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