Dave,

I use the editor all the time to set links in Firefox.  I have never had it fail. 

• Type the text that you want to be the link.
• High lite the text and the "chain link" button becomes active.
• Select that button and the link wizard comes up in a popup window.
• Put the destination in the link url line.
• I change the target to "open in a new window".
• Then click the Insert button.
• There are other settings you can make if you want to get fancy, but that will create a live link that opens in a new tab or window.