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Re: WP-A: A New URL Shortener

From Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com>
Newsgroups comp.lang.python
Subject Re: WP-A: A New URL Shortener
Date 2016-03-16 16:43 +1100
Message-ID <mailman.182.1458106997.12893.python-list@python.org> (permalink)
References <mailman.168.1458075301.12893.python-list@python.org> <17785955.P1rOlOtRcj@PointedEars.de> <mailman.171.1458083791.12893.python-list@python.org> <dks5lpFlhfjU1@mid.individual.net>

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On Wed, Mar 16, 2016 at 3:27 PM, Gregory Ewing
<greg.ewing@canterbury.ac.nz> wrote:
> Chris Angelico wrote:
>>
>> There are many places where there are limits (hard or soft) on message
>> lengths. Some of us still use MUDs and 80-character line limits.
>> Business cards or other printed media need to be transcribed by hand.
>> Dictation of URLs becomes virtually impossible when they're
>> arbitrarily long.
>
>
> Your typical shortened URL made up of a random jumble
> of letters and numbers isn't good for dictating or
> transcribing from a business card either.
>
> For those uses, a well-chosen semantically-memorable
> URL is still the best solution. There shouldn't be
> too much trouble in arranging one of those that's
> short enough to put on a business card.

Quite a few URL shorteners allow you to pick a keyword (conditionally
on it not being in use, of course). For example,
http://bit.ly/threshvote is perfectly memorable, but is still shorter
than the address it redirects to. Given that it's a mobile app
download link, it's extremely helpful for people to be able to type
that without clicking on it; and since it's going to the Google Play
Store, the creator of the app has no power to shorten the official
URL.

In some cases, the correct solution would be a short URL at a domain
that the provider controls. But that's no different from running your
own shortener service - it still has the extra indirection and
consequent risks. So for a lot of people, a public shortener is just
as good.

ChrisA

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Thread

WP-A: A New URL Shortener Vinicius Mesel <me@vmesel.com> - 2016-03-15 16:56 -0300
  Re: WP-A: A New URL Shortener Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn <PointedEars@web.de> - 2016-03-15 23:53 +0100
    Re: WP-A: A New URL Shortener Erik <python@lucidity.plus.com> - 2016-03-15 23:11 +0000
    Re: WP-A: A New URL Shortener Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2016-03-16 10:16 +1100
      Re: WP-A: A New URL Shortener Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn <PointedEars@web.de> - 2016-03-16 00:38 +0100
        Re: WP-A: A New URL Shortener Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2016-03-16 10:55 +1100
          Re: WP-A: A New URL Shortener Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn <PointedEars@web.de> - 2016-03-16 01:36 +0100
        Re: WP-A: A New URL Shortener Gene Heskett <gheskett@wdtv.com> - 2016-03-15 22:34 -0400
          Re: WP-A: A New URL Shortener Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn <PointedEars@web.de> - 2016-03-16 03:46 +0100
            Re: WP-A: A New URL Shortener Gene Heskett <gheskett@wdtv.com> - 2016-03-15 23:34 -0400
        Re: WP-A: A New URL Shortener Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2016-03-16 17:51 +1100
      Re: WP-A: A New URL Shortener Gregory Ewing <greg.ewing@canterbury.ac.nz> - 2016-03-16 17:27 +1300
        Re: WP-A: A New URL Shortener Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2016-03-16 16:43 +1100
          Re: WP-A: A New URL Shortener Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn <PointedEars@web.de> - 2016-03-17 19:27 +0100
            Re: WP-A: A New URL Shortener Rick Johnson <rantingrickjohnson@gmail.com> - 2016-03-17 13:40 -0700
              Re: WP-A: A New URL Shortener Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn <PointedEars@web.de> - 2016-03-17 22:15 +0100
                Re: WP-A: A New URL Shortener Rick Johnson <rantingrickjohnson@gmail.com> - 2016-03-17 21:49 -0700
                Re: WP-A: A New URL Shortener Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn <PointedEars@web.de> - 2016-03-19 14:03 +0100
    Re: WP-A: A New URL Shortener Rick Johnson <rantingrickjohnson@gmail.com> - 2016-03-15 16:19 -0700
      Re: WP-A: A New URL Shortener Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn <PointedEars@web.de> - 2016-03-16 01:22 +0100
        Re: WP-A: A New URL Shortener Rick Johnson <rantingrickjohnson@gmail.com> - 2016-03-15 20:40 -0700
    Re: WP-A: A New URL Shortener Erik <python@lucidity.plus.com> - 2016-03-15 23:40 +0000
    Re: WP-A: A New URL Shortener Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2016-03-16 10:48 +1100
    Re: WP-A: A New URL Shortener Erik <python@lucidity.plus.com> - 2016-03-16 00:31 +0000
    Re: WP-A: A New URL Shortener Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2016-03-16 11:34 +1100
    Re: WP-A: A New URL Shortener Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2016-03-17 23:08 +1100
      Re: WP-A: A New URL Shortener Dan Sommers <dan@tombstonezero.net> - 2016-03-17 12:47 +0000

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