language: return html.blank() from formatExternalLink

2 files changed, 11 insertions, 5 deletions

diff --git a/src/content/dependencies/linkExternal.js b/src/content/dependencies/linkExternal.js
index f0947cb7..afdfe6ef 100644
--- a/src/content/dependencies/linkExternal.js
+++ b/src/content/dependencies/linkExternal.js
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ export default {
       });
 
     // Fall back to platform if nothing matched the desired style.
-    if (!formattedText && slots.style !== 'platform') {
+    if (html.isBlank(formattedText) && slots.style !== 'platform') {
       formattedText =
         language.formatExternalLink(data.url, {
           style: 'platform',
diff --git a/src/data/things/language.js b/src/data/things/language.js
index 4079ee71..5573ce28 100644
--- a/src/data/things/language.js
+++ b/src/data/things/language.js
@@ -540,10 +540,16 @@ export class Language extends Thing {
 
     isExternalLinkStyle(style);
 
-    return getExternalLinkStringOfStyleFromDescriptors(url, style, this.externalLinkSpec, {
-      language: this,
-      context,
-    });
+    const result =
+      getExternalLinkStringOfStyleFromDescriptors(url, style, this.externalLinkSpec, {
+        language: this,
+        context,
+      });
+
+    // It's possible for there to not actually be any string available for the
+    // given URL, style, and context, and we want this to be detectable via
+    // html.blank().
+    return result ?? html.blank();
   }
 
   formatIndex(value) {