Problem with text links. (FAO Simon?)

I had a message from some friends earlier to let me know that text links in my articles aren't loading on a mobile device. They work perfectly on a desktop or laptop, but smartphones (where most of my traffic's coming from!) just get an "about:blank' page when people click on them.

Since they're the links to things that UK people can buy and most of the people reading are UK based at the moment, and on smartphones, I'd really appreciate any help.

The lovely JoHarrington had a look and can't see anything wrong with the code, or any obvious mistake I've made so she suggested I raise it here so Simon can see it .

Thank you!

Hmm, not sure about that. Can anyone confirm this behavior? Or is it only the one phone? Would be very helpful to know ...

When I was looking at it earlier for her, this was the link in question.  Could it be that mobiles can't cope with the keywords in the URL?  I'm asking, as I don't know for sure.

From having a quick look myself it seems that the direct link works but not when it's via Facebook? Conclusion of a couple of minutes looking on the bus.

The problem was reported by people with different phones.

The link itself is not valid, so I guess if entered directly into a browser, the error is corrected by the browser, but Smartphones may not cope with that just as easily:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dclothing&field-keywords=book+quote+tshirts&rh=n%3A83450031%2Ck%3Abook+quote+tshirts

The bold printed part is a non-valid URL structure. All in all, the URL looks pretty weird. Maybe it works by removing the part "ref=nb_sb_noss":

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?url=search-alias%3Dclothing&field-keywords=book+quote+tshirts&rh=n%3A83450031%2Ck%3Abook+quote+tshirts

The removal doesn't matter for the target URL, so you may try this.

Thank you! I'll give that a go.

Hi again,

I think the problem is links within articles via facebook. Looking at my latest article for instance (http://wizzley.com/planning-a-wizard-of-oz-birthday-party/) I've got a link to an amazon product on the side, and a link within the text to amazon UK (the same book).  If I got directly to the article on my iphone I can follow the link, but if it's linked via facebook I can't. The link doesn't have that extraneous part of the URL you pointed to in the last example.

About half my views come from facebook so I'm slightly at a loss. No pun intended.