Title: a href Pod Reference broken
Last modified: March 25, 2022

---

# a href Pod Reference broken

 *  Resolved [mungbean](https://wordpress.org/support/users/mungbean/)
 * (@mungbean)
 * [4 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/a-href-pod-reference-broken/)
 * I’m collecting URLs using the Website form field and printing them to the screen
   using a template.
 * The Website field accepts formats as [https://example.com](https://example.com),
   and in my template I am using this syntax `<a href = "{@website_link}"> {@post_title}
   </a>` but when it renders rather than the post title being a clickable link to
   the URL, it is displayed as `"https://example.com/"> Post Title` and the Post
   Title is not a hyperlink, rather the URL fragment is a hyperlink, but incorrect.
   It points to an nonexistent internal `<a href="` path.
 * There is some corruption or syntax issue. I have other template URLS that work
   as expected in conjunction with other pod references.
 * Please advise

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)

 *  Plugin Support [pdclark](https://wordpress.org/support/users/pdclark/)
 * (@pdclark)
 * [4 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/a-href-pod-reference-broken/#post-15494406)
 * This worked for me in testing, but if I had another required field that wasn’t
   filled out, the website field would look like it saved when it didn’t, resulting
   in an empty template as described.
 * Do you by chance have another required field that’s being left empty?
 * In the website field Edit options, is “Output as a link” unchecked?
 * There also should not be spaces around the equals sign between `href` and “`{
   @website_link}"`
 *  Thread Starter [mungbean](https://wordpress.org/support/users/mungbean/)
 * (@mungbean)
 * [4 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/a-href-pod-reference-broken/#post-15499020)
 * Thanks for the tips, but it doesn’t seem to have resolved it. All of the fields
   in my custom post type are optional, so there’s no required fields left empty.
   I’d assume it’d be impossible to save/publish a post with incomplete required
   fields anyways though?
 * The field is also set to “output as a link” and “open in a new window.”
 * And whilst there were spaces in my href code, I removed them in the template,
   but that didn’t fix it either.
 * The exact same syntax is used in the same template for a relationship link, and
   it works fine too. I’m left staring at the code confused haha.
    -  This reply was modified 4 years, 1 month ago by [mungbean](https://wordpress.org/support/users/mungbean/).
 *  Thread Starter [mungbean](https://wordpress.org/support/users/mungbean/)
 * (@mungbean)
 * [4 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/a-href-pod-reference-broken/#post-15500583)
 * Marking as resolved! I’ve figured it out.
 * So having the Website field with the “output as a link” checked, and then wrapping
   that Pod reference in an href in the template confuses Pods, or something like
   that. I unchecked the “output as a link” option and the href works now.
 * I suppose my other hrefs in the template worked because the referenced Pod field
   were relationship/.guid Pod references, which I don’t think have a “output as
   a link” option.
 * It might be helpful to include some contextual helper text on the Pod or the 
   template about the “output as a link” option.
 *  Plugin Author [Jory Hogeveen](https://wordpress.org/support/users/keraweb/)
 * (@keraweb)
 * [4 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/a-href-pod-reference-broken/#post-15502019)
 * Thanks for letting us know [@mungbean](https://wordpress.org/support/users/mungbean/)!

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)

The topic ‘a href Pod Reference broken’ is closed to new replies.

 * ![](https://ps.w.org/pods/assets/icon.svg?rev=3286397)
 * [Pods - Custom Content Types and Fields](https://wordpress.org/plugins/pods/)
 * [Frequently Asked Questions](https://wordpress.org/plugins/pods/#faq)
 * [Support Threads](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/pods/)
 * [Active Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/pods/active/)
 * [Unresolved Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/pods/unresolved/)
 * [Reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/pods/reviews/)

## Tags

 * [href](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/href/)

 * 4 replies
 * 3 participants
 * Last reply from: [Jory Hogeveen](https://wordpress.org/support/users/keraweb/)
 * Last activity: [4 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/a-href-pod-reference-broken/#post-15502019)
 * Status: resolved