diff --git a/controller/Html_cleaner.py b/controller/Html_cleaner.py
index bb5f4b1..5b2153e 100644
--- a/controller/Html_cleaner.py
+++ b/controller/Html_cleaner.py
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ class Html_cleaner(HTMLParser):
     # "on" tags, like "onhover," would not be smart.  Also be very careful
     # of "background" and "style."
     self.allowed_attributes = {
-      'a': [ 'href' ],
+      'a': [ 'href', 'target' ],
     }
 
     # The only schemes allowed in URLs (for href and src attributes).
diff --git a/static/js/Editor.js b/static/js/Editor.js
index 686f87d..e1fac85 100644
--- a/static/js/Editor.js
+++ b/static/js/Editor.js
@@ -276,11 +276,19 @@ Editor.prototype.mouse_clicked = function ( event ) {
     if ( !link )
       return;
   }
+  if ( !link.href ) return;
 
-  // ignore external links pointing outside of this wiki (indicated by the presence of a link
-  // target), and let the browser handle them normally
-  if ( !link.href || link.target )
+  // links with targets are considered to be external links pointing outside of this wiki
+  if ( link.target ) {
+    // if this is a read-only editor, bail and let the browser handle the link normally
+    if ( !this.read_write ) return;
+    
+    // otherwise, this is a read-write editor, so we've got to launch the external link ourselves.
+    // note that this ignores what the link target actually contains and assumes it's "_new"
+    window.open( link.href );
+    event.stop();
     return;
+  }
 
   event.stop();
 
@@ -317,13 +325,6 @@ Editor.prototype.empty = function () {
   return ( scrapeText( this.document.body ).length == 0 );
 }
 
-Editor.prototype.contents = function () {
-  if ( !this.document.body )
-    return ""
-
-  return scrapeText( this.document.body );
-}
-
 Editor.prototype.start_link = function () {
   // get the current selection, which is the link title
   if ( this.iframe.contentWindow && this.iframe.contentWindow.getSelection ) { // browsers such as Firefox
diff --git a/static/js/Wiki.js b/static/js/Wiki.js
index 0df367b..12cf5a8 100644
--- a/static/js/Wiki.js
+++ b/static/js/Wiki.js
@@ -189,6 +189,15 @@ Wiki.prototype.load_editor = function ( note_title, from_iframe_id, note_id, rev
     }
   }
 
+  // if the title looks like a URL, then make it a link to an external site
+  if ( /^\w+:\/\//.test( note_title ) ) {
+    link.target = "_new";
+    link.href = note_title;
+    window.open( link.href );
+    return
+  }
+  link.removeAttribute( "target" );
+
   // if the note corresponding to the link's id is already open, highlight it and bail, but only if
   // we didn't pull a title from an open link pulldown
   if ( !pulldown_title ) {
@@ -210,7 +219,7 @@ Wiki.prototype.load_editor = function ( note_title, from_iframe_id, note_id, rev
 
   // if there's not a valid destination note id, then load by title instead of by id
   var self = this;
-  if ( note_id == "new" || note_id == "null" ) {
+  if ( note_id == undefined || note_id == "new" || note_id == "null" ) {
     this.invoker.invoke(
       "/notebooks/load_note_by_title", "GET", {
         "notebook_id": this.notebook_id,
@@ -233,11 +242,19 @@ Wiki.prototype.load_editor = function ( note_title, from_iframe_id, note_id, rev
 }
 
 Wiki.prototype.resolve_link = function ( note_title, link, callback ) {
+  // if the title looks like a URL, then make it a link to an external site
+  if ( /^\w+:\/\//.test( note_title ) ) {
+    link.target = "_new";
+    link.href = note_title;
+    if ( callback ) callback( "web link" );
+    return
+  }
+  link.removeAttribute( "target" );
+
   var id = parse_query( link ).note_id;
-  if ( !id ) return;
 
   // if the link already has a valid-looking id, it's already resolved, so bail
-  if ( !callback && id != "new" && id != "null" )
+  if ( !callback && id != undefined && id != "new" && id != "null" )
     return;
 
   if ( note_title.length == 0 )
@@ -920,7 +937,7 @@ function Link_pulldown( wiki, notebook_id, invoker, editor, link ) {
 
   this.invoker = invoker;
   this.editor = editor;
-  this.title_field = createDOM( "input", { "class": "text_field", "size": "25", "maxlength": "256" } );
+  this.title_field = createDOM( "input", { "class": "text_field", "size": "30", "maxlength": "256" } );
   this.note_preview = createDOM( "span", {} );
   this.previous_title = "";
 
@@ -934,11 +951,18 @@ function Link_pulldown( wiki, notebook_id, invoker, editor, link ) {
   appendChildNodes( this.div, this.title_field );
   appendChildNodes( this.div, this.note_preview );
 
+  // links with targets are considered links to external sites
+  if ( link.target ) {
+    self.title_field.value = link.href;
+    replaceChildNodes( self.note_preview, "web link" );
+    return;
+  }
+
   // if the note has no destination note id set, try loading the note from the server by title
   var query = parse_query( link );
   var title = link_title( link, query );
   var id = query.note_id;
-  if ( ( id == "new" || id == "null" ) && title.length > 0 ) {
+  if ( ( id == undefined || id == "new" || id == "null" ) && title.length > 0 ) {
     this.invoker.invoke(
       "/notebooks/load_note_by_title", "GET", {
         "notebook_id": this.notebook_id,