* A list of URL shorteners worth checking out
Web URLs can get really, really long and that, in turn, leads to all sorts of problems. The first problem is one of simple usability. URLs that are 50, 100, or even 200 characters in length will wrap over one or more lines in most documents and if the URL doesn’t get truncated it may well get mangled by automated hyphenation and line breaking.
The second problem is that long URLs are aesthetically unpleasing – whatever document they are in will look, for want of a better word, “coarse” when a big chunk of “techie” text is prominent.
A third issue is that long URLs are just that, long. In the age of texting, instant messaging, and Twitter where limited length messages are the standard super-long URLs are impractical and often unworkable.
The answer is to use a URL “shortener” to encode the long URL into a shorter, more manageable form. Over the last few years a number of these services have appeared. I first wrote about these services way back in 2001.
At that time I was discussing a service called shorterurl.com, which is still in operation although it hasn’t evolved at all in the intervening years. All shorterurl.com does is create shortened URLs. That’s it.
Let me give you an example. Last week’s Web Applications newsletter URL was:
http://www.networkworld.com/newsletters/web/2009/030209web1.html
That’s 64 characters in length. Running that same URL through shorterurl.com gives:
http://shorterlink.com/?nthdmt
The URL is now just 30 characters in total, a better than 50% reduction in character count and much easier to use.
Since my Gearhead column a large number of other URL shorteners have appeared. While some of the new crop still provide only a basic service, most attempt to add value of some kind.
A key feature is previewing. With shortened URLs you have no idea what the real URL is that you’ll be redirected to. URL previewing is a key issue for fostering user confidence.
Another issue is tracking. If you go to the trouble of shortening URLs wouldn’t it be useful to know how often that URL gets used? Built-in tracking is another feature that has become popular and highly valued.
In this newsletter I have a selection of URL shorteners that you need to check out.
* Shorterlink is, as I noted, a really basic service (it is free). Shorterlink does the job but as noted earlier, it hasn’t evolved.
* TinyURL provides free URL shortening as well as a toolbar button that allows the creation of a shortened URL for the current browser page by simply clicking on a button.
TinyURL also provides a user-defined page redirection feature and a user-side preview feature (users have to enable the previewing of URLs encoded using TinyURL — this kind of previewing isn’t the best as it requires that the client do something, which we all know probably won’t happen).
* bit.ly is a more sophisticated URL shortening service, and it is free. Bit.ly not only shortens URLs and optionally posts a message that includes the new URLs to Twitter but also provides real-time tracking of the use of the URL.
bit.ly also provides the history of the use of all of your shortened URLs, a bookmarklet that will shorten the URL of the current page, provides a Firefox plugin for previewing bit.ly shortened URLs, a spreadsheet template for bulk shortening of URLs, a GMail gadget for URL stats tracking, and an API for applications.
URL shortening is still evolving and using the right service will not only make life for you and your users and readers easier, but will also give you valuable insights into how your links are being used.
