To help you out, it is easier just to highlight whatever you want to link or italic. Then, when the text is selected, just hit the 'Bold' or 'Italic' button. For the link one, highlight the text to be displayed, and in the dialog box, enter the URL. For the 'Quote' button, a good trick is to highlight the stuff you want to quote (That isn't in the reply box). Then, click on the highlighted text and drag it to the reply box. It will still be highlighted. Finally, just hit the 'Quote' button. Isn't that much easier?