Why is it that the link doesn't work when href attribute value is url encoded?
Are we not supposed to encode it? Same behavior observed in Chrome & FF
Works
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>
<p>Sweet fruit: <a href="http://google.com/search?q=banana">Banana</a></p>
</body>
</html>
Doesn't work
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>
<p>Sweet fruit<a href="http%3A%2F%2Fgoogle.com%2Fsearch%3Fq%3Dbanana">Banana</a></p>
</body>
</html>
Its an protected link. this is how the encode works http://www.w3schools.com/tags/ref_urlencode.asp
this was the link u showed the first one is decoded and the second one encoded .
http://google.com/search?q=banana http%3A%2F%2Fgoogle.com%2Fsearch%3Fq%3Dbanana
lets take a look
In this case the "/" becomes %2F, the "?" a %3F and the "=" %3D
its an protection and so the link can not be used. the dns cant read it. and as you see the first link is clickable and the second one not.