Does this bug you as much as it bugs me?
http://www.howmuchlongercanmyurlsget.com/before/Igo/totally/insane.htm
If you’re blogging or uploading files frequently, passing out lengthy links to your posts can get pretty tedious. That’s where URL truncator services come in, stepping up to provide a shorter link that’s easier to remember and share. There are a ton of options out there, and most have something unique to offer.
Probably the best known truncator around, TinyURL offers the features most people are looking for: an easy to remember domain name, fairly short (though at 6 characters it’s double what some create) identifier, and a preview page for your shortened link by using “preview.tinyurl.com/[link]“. Their page also automatically copies the new URL to your clipboard, and they offer a bookmarklet.
You can’t really fault TinyURL for not being able to pull off three-character identifiers like some of the other services I listed - they claim they have more than 74 million in their database and receive 2 billion hits a month. With numbers like that, it makes sense that they need a couple more letters.
A single blank box for your address on the main page (which is totally uncluttered) and you’re sent to the finished product. If you’ve got Flash enabled, the new URL is automatically copied, which is pretty slick. You’re also given the option of sending your visitors to a preview page first by simply adding a hyphen to the end of your new URL. I really like this idea, especially if you’re linking directly to a file and not a web page - just in case your visitors need to be able to right-click and save as to get it.
This is about as short as you can get, my URL weighing in at just 9 characters including punctuation. Not bad.
Again, very simple interface; fill in one blank with your URL and receive a three-character, truncated version. There’s not really much else that URL.ie does, but they do offer a bookmarklet for you to drag onto your Firefox bar - something is.gd doesn’t offer.
Something is a little amiss with their CSS code, and it didn’t present well in Firefox. Specifically, the button I needed to click to create my URL was mostly covered by the tools and contacts links.
Still, hitting enter still submits the form, and my shortened URL comes with a stats view - nice! All it gives you is creation time and total number of hits, but it’s still a nice addon to throw in. Better yet, they allow 2MB file uploads with automatic URL creation. No, it’s not a ton of space, but it’s a nice offering from a truncator. It’s a nice way to quickly share a .zip with a bunch of documents or photos. They also provide a bookmarklet, Firefox extension, and API access!
The only service I’ve used so far that offers URL masking, which doesn’t really provide much anonymity anyways, but it is a feature some may look for. Again, creation was simple, and they offer a Firefox addon for URL creation.
Offers a “tag” feature, which can be very useful. Using my test link I added the tag “demo” to it and was given “http://w3t.org/c/demo.” The untagged version came across as “/u/7wal” so there’s definitely some value to tagging with this service. Their creation page is more cluttered than the other sites reviewed, with links to several other sites in their “network.”
If w3t cleaned up their page and Ajaxed it, it would be this. Xil.in is a single page with tag support. Once you’ve filled in your URL and tag, the resulting truncated URL appears beneath the form in red text. Short, sweet, and a welcome change from being redirected to a second page. They offer Firefox integration in the form of a search bar, which works nicely to create new URLs.
The only site to offer a Windows client, a somewhat unique method of creating URLs. Download and install the client, and it sits in the system tray. Copy the url you want shortened from your browser, click the icon in the tray, and a pop up balloon notifies you of the new URL. It’s also automatically pasted to the clipboard. I can see this being useful if you’re someone who needs to create a lot of short URLs and blog them.
They also offer a bookmarklet for both Firefox and IE. Unlike a lot of the other services, xaddr checked to make sure my URL was valid - it didn’t create a link to a non-existent file like the others did.
Doiop is a little different in that they don’t offer alphanumeric URLs like the other services. Instead, you pick a word: http://www.doiop.com/snickerdoodle. The downside is, obviously, that someone else may have taken your word - which can make the process a little frustrating. There’s no bookmarklet, toolbar, or anything else to ease the process either.
The best for last? Snurl offers the usual single-blank url truncation, but they go way beyond that. Register on the site, and your “snips” will be stored and you can manage them whenever you want - and clickthroughs get automatically tracked. Awesome! What’s more, the management page offers emailing of any or all of your snips and instant sharing with the usual suspects (Digg, Reddit, Stumbleupon, etc.).
Snurl is so smart, it even creates RSS feeds for your snips. How cool is that? Sharing a pile of links is as easy as letting people subscribe to your feeds. You can also change the default domain name amongst snurl.com, snipr.com, and sninpurl.com at your leisure. Worried people might randomly leech your links? You can set a private key up and it will be automatically added to your new snips.
These features put Snurl in a class by itself, and I’d say it’s easily the most advanced truncator available - but what do you think? Have you found a service that you think is better? Go ahead, comment on it!
(By) Lee Mathews is a blogger who writes to share downloads, links, and tech advice with other slightly frustrated users at Unsightful.com.
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Filed Under: Cool Websites ¦ Lists of tools
Tags: bookmarklets, browser tips, URL
Great article with some great ideas. I use another one called twurl/tweetburner that I believe is strictly for shortening urls that you’re going to post to Twitter. It also lets you keep track of your urls and how many times they were clicked. Very convenient.
http://nsfw.in shouldve been mentioned as a special mention. My friends and I have used it, and it saved my ass quite a few times in a lab/workplace
I like this one as well, quite handy for emailing NSFW links
you can use is.gd bookmarklet found in: http://is.gd/instructions.php
‘Magic’ bookmark
Oh wow…NSFW is an interesting one, though it’s for a er…totally different “target URL” than my demos.
Thanks for the tip, though - I’ve got a coworker that could get a lot of use out of that!
one more
http://www.meaningfulurl.com/
Snipurl or Snipr still stands a cut above, no several cuts above, all the wannabes that have sprung up since 2001. You can do titles, a descriptive short URL, see the stats, use the API to use snipr in your own app, snip/copy/paste on mobile phones at least windows mobile, and so on. And now that twitter allows me to use snipurl links I’m a happy camper.
So what’s the verdict - who won?
I am going for ones that offer browser bookmarklets
Don’t forget tinypic.com. They’ll host your picture or video AND give you a short URL to it.
i like the url41.net, is simple and fast, and without advertisements
I like http://www.simpl.es
I really like http://moourl.com.
You missed http://curlit.in
There are so many short URL services it is hard to choose, I like http://www.qpyn.com because it gives a few more options than most, they are all good at what they do though and tinyurl still has the biggest share of users.;)
Another new short url service is - Takeme.to/short-url
Very memorable address, free for general links, keywords are 1.99
I recommend on http://www.k7u.info - very easy, fast and cool short URL service.
Have difficulties with never-ending URLs? Diggurl will solve all your problems
Visit http://www.diggurl.com to create shortened/redirected URLs to any long URL.
# AJAX interface;
# Bulk URL shortening;
# Password-protected URLs;
# Temporary URLs;
# Custom tags;
# Custom tags for bulk URLs (automatically assigned tags like tag1, tag2, tag3 and so on);
# Redirects statistic - referer domain, referer page, visitor’s IP (+ link to geographical information about each visitor), date;
# URLs and hits statistics can be seen even without registration (IP-based authorization);
# Registered users: edit/delete URLs;
# Mass upload URLs from file;
# Export links to CSV file;
Take a look on that short url service:
http://shoxt.com - really easy to use