Short URLs
My friend Beegee asked me why her YouTube links look so long, while her friends’ URLs are so short. URL Shortening services are the answer.
A URL like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AxwaszFbDw can be shortened to: http://tinyurl.com/7u72nb
The most popular URL shortener is probably TinyURL. In 2009, Twitter replaced TinyURL with Bit.ly as its default shortener of links longer than 26 characters. There are dozens of services to choose from. A 2008 Mashable article collected over 90 URL shortening services. By the way, WordPress even offers its own “Get Shortlink” feature for your blog posts.
There are a few ways to shorten a long URL:
- Visit an online site, like TinyURL; enter your long URL to receive a shortened version
- Install a browser add-on, like the Shorten URL for Firefox (up to version 3.5), or Tiny’s toolbar
- Install short URL software on your machine
Problems
Due to spam and other concerns, some websites (including Craigslist, MySpace and Yahoo) ban the use of certain shortened URLs. Another problem with sending short URLs is that the recipient (if they are not familiar with the short URL service) may consider the link a phishing attempt and not visit your link. Personally, I like to know the site I’m visiting. So unless I really trust the sender, to protect myself, I won’t click on an abbreviated URL from a third-party service.
Solutions
When pasting a long URL in an email, sometimes the URL breaks on to 2 lines. When the recipient clicks on the link, the URL may be cutoff – resulting in an error page. You can often prevent this by wrapping long URLs in angle brackets, like <http://www.marketingbymarlow.com/messenger/index.php/2010/06/short-urls/>.
Short URL services
Resources
Cyclist of the Month: Blake Trask
Age: 31
Occupation: Associate at Triangle Associates
Hometown: Vashon Island, WA
Degree: Int’l Political Economy, Colorado College. Environmental Policy & Planning, University of Washington
Commute: 12 miles round trip from Whittier Heights to downtown Seattle
Wheels: Surly Cross Check
Blake Trask is not a bicyclist. At least he doesn’t identify himself as one. He has ridden one group cycling event, Chilly Hilly — the longest ride of his lifetime. Blake is a self-identified “policy wonk.”
Fortunately, regional cyclists can thank Blake for his love of Seattle. That’s why he became chair of the twelve-member Seattle Bicycle Advisory Board.
“I want my kids to be able to bike to school. I want the Ballard Bridge retrofitted for bikes. I want downtown to have the same dedicated cycle tracks that are in Manhattan…” Read more
Creating Accessible Websites
This spring, I conducted an in-depth website accessibility evaluation for nonprofit Skills Inc.
My site audit identified 12 issues that did not conform to federal Section 508 Standards, WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) 1.0, and the latest WCAG 2.0, released in 2009.
Patterns Surfacing
WordPress Development: Scott Marlow
Graphic Design: Jennifer Cepeda
My latest WordPress creation for artist, designer and illustrator, Jennifer Cepeda. A fellow West Seattle neighbor, Jennifer is building a portfolio of surface & pattern designs. She is currently represented by Pink Light Designs, and her first four collections will showcase at the May 2010 Surtex Show in New York.
Scott was terrific to work with! He accepted a very short deadline and helped me stay within my budget by offering alternatives for me to consider. I really appreciated his flexibility in helping me design my site, answering a million questions and working with a new hosting service outside of his standard practice. His style of service and responsiveness are invaluable!
Jennifer Cepeda
Cyclist of the Month: Patty Kirkland
Patty Kirkland
Age: 45
Occupation: Desktop Support Specialist, F5
Hometown: Buffalo, NY
Degree: Bachelor of Fine Arts, University of Buffalo
Commute: 12 miles round trip from Fremont to downtown Seattle
Wheels: Giant Trace X2, Kona Dew Drop, Pacific Reach travel, Rodriguez Stellar and S3
With 12 internal teams, F5 consistently leads the Group Health Commute Challenge. The cheerleader for 200 F5 bike commuters is four-time Team Captain Patty Kirkland.
During Bike Month, F5′s Bagel Fridays are incentive for some employees to commute by bike; and the free F5 cycling jersey issued to Team participants also inspires many new bicycle commuters. But it was the company’s stipend ($1,200 to $3,600 per year) that motivated Patty to leave her car behind. Read more
Small Company. Big Experience.
CSS/XHTML Web Development: Scott Marlow
Graphic Design: Beegee Tolpa
Grant Hainsworth and Mike Byers just launched their new website for Crete Consulting. The 100% CSS site highlights their consulting and engineering projects, and includes a password-protected FTP area for clients to upload and download files.