Shrinking long URLs

[Anonymous]

OK, so I can't be the only one irritated by the appearance of a horizontal scroll bar in a thread, cos someone's posted a long URL...

So here's a brief destruction on how to shrink 'em!

All you do is:

[url=<the url>]some nice short descriptive phrase[/url]

Like this:
long url = http://www.axminster.co.uk/product.asp?pf_id=20382&recno=22

short url = nice plane

(ok, so not particularly long, but also no nasty scroll bar)

 

[Chris Knight]

And don't forget tinyurl (http://tinyurl.com/) which does this http://tinyurl.com/657to

 

[Alf]

And don't forget tinyurl (http://tinyurl.com/) which does this http://tinyurl.com/657to

Except I think TinyUrl expires after a while doesn't it? Not so good for the archive.

Cheers, Alf

 

[Anonymous]

Just looked at the tinyurl website, and they 'claim' they never expire...but it's a free web based service, so who knows?

Good if you want to publish a link of a personal web-site without giving the web-site address though.

 

[Chris Knight]

Alf,

There was a period when tinyurl links expired after a month or so. I believe they changed that and that they are now "permanent". This may have been in response to the rise of other similar sites like snipurl which advertise persistent links.

 

[Chris Knight]

JGood if you want to publish a link of a personal web-site without giving the web-site address though.

Not really - as soon as you visit it, you see the real address.

 

[Alf]

Esp, I think you're right and I'm repeating duff info. I just had a look through a few 3 year old posts on The Porch and the TinyUrl's work fine. Disregard my objection (although personally I'd sooner know where a link is taking me before I click it, but that's just me).

Cheers, Alf

 

[Anonymous]

JGood if you want to publish a link of a personal web-site without giving the web-site address though.

Not really - as soon as you visit it, you see the real address.

really? OK, I'll take your word for it, never having used tinyurl - just their site quotes:

Are you posting something that you don't want people to know what the URL is because it might give away that it's an affiliate link. Then you can enter a URL into TinyURL, and your affiliate link will be hidden from the visitor, only the tinyurl.com address and the ending address will be visible to your visitors.

<shrugs> I just want to get rid of horizontal scroll bars on the forum, cos they're annoying! :lol:

 

[Aragorn]

<shrugs> I just want to get rid of horizontal scroll bars on the forum, cos they're annoying! :lol:

I agree Esp, and thanks for taking the time to remind/inform folks how to do it.
As well as prefering the shorter URLs, I also like the descriptive text method because it tells me what the link is pointing to. (So Alf, you're not alone!)

 

[Gill]

I never knew how to shrink the URL. I'm just grateful to ES for telling us how. Like most other people, I find long URLs an irritation.

Gill

 

[Philly]

Cheers Esp!
Know we know :lol:
Philly

Good Web Site?

 

[Anonymous]

welcome, all and sundry...

and yes Philly, it is a good website, as long as the viewer's wearing gloat-proof shades

 

[Philly]

Ha! :lol: :lol: 8)
Philly

 

[Alf]

'Course we covered how to do all this on the Hand Tools board about three weeks ago, but then the neanders are always at the, er, cutting edge... :wink:

Cheers, Alf

 

[Anonymous]

'Course, the instructions for how to do this have always been there when you hover the mouse over the 'url' button...proof, if needed, that ukworkshop is at the bleeding edge (bleeding edge being what you get if you let a neander anywhere near a pile of rust)

 

[Alf]

'Course, the instructions for how to do this have always been there when you hover the mouse over the 'url' button...

Shhhhhh! You're spoiling the idea we're clever to have worked it out! :wink:

proof, if needed, that ukworkshop is at the bleeding edge (bleeding edge being what you get if you let a neander anywhere near a pile of rust)

Evidence today suggests the bleeding edge is when a neander comes into contact with a spokeshave blade. :roll: Still, I think sycamore and dry blood work really, really well, don't you? </Linda Barker>

Cheers, Alf

 

[llangatwgnedd]

When you have done all that and hit the preview button does it show in the preview window what you want it to show or as a long string showing as I seem to get Cheers

 

[Anonymous]

if you get it right, it'll show on the preview exactly what gets posted when you submit

 

[llangatwgnedd]

Thanks Espedair.

I'll just have to work on this a little bit harder

Cheers