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* control over label
* the target contains an anchor
== Interwiki links versus external links ==
Disadvantages of interwiki links:
* The wikitext is less portable across wikis, because wikis do not always have an interwiki prefix for the same sites and even if they do, the prefixes may differ
* There is no feature to find interwiki links, while searching for an external link can be done with [[Special:Linksearch]] (if installed). This is due to the fact that, while there is an [[mw:Externallinks table|external links table]], there is no such thing for interwiki links. The [[mw:interwiki table|interwiki table]] only stores the interwiki prefixes with their targets as function of the parameter, not the instances of the links.
** There is the {{ll|iw=mw|API:iwbacklinks|nsp=0}} query API that returns the pages that use the requested interwiki prefix.
** Using the general text search, to search for interwiki links, is more work for the server and therefore, it may be slow, not up-to-date or in busy hours, disabled. See also: [[Help:What_links_here#Finding_external_links_to_a_page|Finding external links to a page]].
* They're misleading because the user has no indication that they're being taken to a different site.
Using templates like {{links-small|template|h:mlw}}, the advantages of interwiki links and external links are combined. When a page using this template, which is in this case used for links to the English Wikipedia, is copied to that site, a template with the same name is needed there too. Due to that template, {{links-small|w|template|h:mlw}}, which redirects to {{links-small|w|template|h:ml}}, the interwiki links are automatically converted to internal links. Hence, they provide existence detection and allow use of "What links here", as well as Linksearch.
Comparison:
* <nowiki>''[[imdbtitle:0389790|Bee Movie]]''</nowiki> gives ''[[imdbtitle:0389790|Bee Movie]]''
* <nowiki>[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0389790 Bee Movie]</nowiki> gives ''[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0389790 Bee Movie]''
** [http://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ALinksearch&target=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.imdb.com%2Ftitle%2Ftt0389790 Linksearch] works for the latter only
The applicable CSS classes are "extiw" and "external text". The choice may be governed by this, either way, for uniformity or distinction. An interwiki link is easier to type by itself, but if one goes to the webpage anyways, before putting the link, copying the URL is very convenient. When a template is created, e.g. {{tiw|imdb title}}, the template can be made, such that it uses an interwiki link and a parameter, like "tt0389790" or "0389790", or that it uses an external link and a parameter like one of those or the full url, if that is more convenient.
== Interwiki links to the same wiki versus internal links ==
Disadvantages of interwiki links to the same wiki, compared to internal links:
* no existence detection
* "What links here" works for internal links only
* The interwiki link prefix for the same wiki should be supported otherwise it creates an invalid internal link.
Advantages of interwiki links to the same wiki, compared to internal links:
* better portability across wikis, provided that the same prefix applies and is not equal to a namespace name
When using templates like {{links-small|template|h:ml}}, the advantages of internal links, interwiki links and external links are combined, provided that a template with the same name and adapted content is present on the other site.
== See also ==
* [[mw:Help:Interwiki linking]]
* [[mw:Manual:Interwiki]]
* {{mlm|Sister projects||Wikimedia sister projects}}
* [[m:Templates for linking to sister projects]]
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