Testing Short Link Services

    Why was the topic written?

    Having once again felt the need to use TinyUrl , I came across a threatening message that either the site is in the black list or my IP is banned. Having tried to enter a different address and having achieved the result, I came to the disappointing conclusion that such garbage is given by a link to a file lying on Yandex hosting. A couple of minutes of searching - and now the link is already safely cropped in MooURL . Where did I get MooURL? But at random I chose. In his blog, in an entry dated 06/29/2008, Artyom Belyaykin published a list of 68 services that he proposed to reduce the size of long links. True, with an emphasis on disguising affiliate links, but I rest on the user :)

    Since choosing at random is the way, after all, it’s not ours a little, it was decided to look through all the links and draw up their first impression in the form of an express review. In the process, it also became clear that for the Network six months is already a Deadline, and some of these sites are no longer working.

    Why is this to the habrasociety?

    For the good. And in order not to delve into it ourselves when needed. It can be used for various reasons, for example: writing down such an address on a piece of paper is more convenient; it is more convenient to throw off by SMS; on social networks (when there is a ban on the publication of the address) it is more convenient to publish. This is if you do not take into account the use for redirect and other options.

    What has been done?

    Work has been done. Not little. By testing all the links. To test the capabilities, the site address “http://habrahabr.ru/ ”. In reality, it is, of course, convenient on its own, but our goal is not to brag about how long addresses are shortened, but to immediately show how much better than short names if they look bad / remember / etc. Although this does not apply to Habr :) Where it is possible to set "preferences" (yes, it sounds awful), that is, links that include a user-defined combination of characters, the "habr" or similar preference was used. All ratings are subjective and based on my general perception or non-perception of the site. The main link interface is English (although there are German, French, Portuguese, etc.).

    I hope this review will help someone choose their resource of necessary functionality. So let's go.
     
     

    Work after registration


    DigBig An
    address like digbig.com/3bbd is issued. There are bookmarklets, statistics.
    lnk.in
    As it is written in the description, the site allows you to create links in the usual way, with the given combinations, in batch mode (when all valid links on the pages are replaced), and also place your own address translation button. There are statistics and password protection links.
    NanoRef
    Minimalistic interface, positioned as address substitutes for letters and chats. It is possible to set preferences when an address of the form abcdef.nanoref.com is created.
    Shurl
    Speak only about availability of statistics and tracking of links.
    Sitelutions
    A whole system for working with domains.
     
     

    Work after registration (after choosing a domain)


    Ne1
    The site works according to an unusual pattern. First, you select one of the three domains, request its availability, then fill out personal data - name, e-mail, password, website address and even its category. For Habr, the address habr.r8.org could have been created if everything had not been so dreary. 4/10.
    Shim
    The mechanism of work is like that of Ne1. Choice of seven domains. Large registration form. For Habr something like habr.2cd.net would turn out. 4/10.
    Ulimit
    The mechanism of work is like that of Ne1. Choice of 26 domains. Also a large registration form. For Habr it would turn out something like habr.it.st. 5/10.
     
     

    Work


    Beam.to
    To convert, there is a button “Add New URL”, then you must specify the combination of preference, site and mailbox. For Habr it would be something like "beam.to/habr" (did not transform). Account system. Position themselves as a service to improve the appearance of the name of your site, "looking bad." 3/10.
    CanURL
    For Habr - canurl.com/ab5ys. Nice. They say that they are optimized for mobile devices. 7/10.
    Dwarfurl
    For Habr - dwarfurl.com/d2a70. Allows you to optionally set a password to view the number of clicks on your link, has the option "can the link be shown publicly." Generates HTML code immediately to insert the link. 8/10.
    Get shorty
    For Habr - get-shorty.com/shorty/habrahabr. A site that claims to be stylish, but doesn’t create the most convenient links. Here, by the way, we are also offered to download something for offline work. The keyword is set only for further address setting. 4/10.
    Is.gd
    For Habr - is.gd/dCW. Bragging how shortened the address. If flash is enabled, the address is automatically copied to the buffer. The instructions page contains links to the corresponding bookmarklet, plug-in for Firefox, and a widget for Mac OS X. Adding a hyphen (is.gd/dCW-) to the end of the address sends the link information to the page. 6/10.
    Nutshell URL
    For Habr - nutshellurl.com/3t1. Added Google Custom Search field to homepage. Everything is simple and clear. By entering the nutshell address in a special field, you can find out where it leads. There is a kind of mascot - a crowd of walnuts :) 7/10.
    Redirx
    For Habr - redirx.com/?sg3o. A sample of a slightly embellished minimalism. On the main page is a couple of words and a field for entering an address. A link to the FAQ is found under the logo. 6/10.
    RubyURL
    For Habr - rubyurl.com/N8Yu. The newly formed link can optionally be copied to the buffer immediately. It has its own bookmarklet and API (with examples). 8/10.
    Shorl
    For Habr - shorl.com/brygynihyfove. After clicking on the button, it gives a frightening looking “short” address (“short”) and a frightening password to it (for using statistics). There is a bookmarklet. 4/10.
    Shoter Link
    Minimalism wisely: for Habr immediately honestly admitted that the address will not do less. Shorterlink.com/?ABC123 is an example. 5/10.
    ShortURL
    For Habr - alturl.com/53o. Everything is motley, the abundance of details is confusing. Account system. There is a bookmarklet. The task of combinations (and a couple of useful features) seems to be there, too, but it is very messy. 5/10.
    Short URL
    For Habr - url.lotpatrol.com/?x=1855. They say that by converting mail addresses to their addresses they protect against web-spiders. 5/10.
    Simurl
    For Habr - simurl.com/matruw. You can track statistics after registration. After creating the link, it immediately tries to load the specified site into its frame. 6/10.
    Smallr
    For Habr - smallr.com/921. Nice and minimalistic. There is a bookmarklet and API. 8/10.
    Tight URL A
    plain interface from a hash of text. For Habr did not betray anything, apologizing. Most likely, like Shoter Link, he simply concludes that the address will not do less. But the details are hidden from the user. There is a bookmarklet. 4/10.
    URL.co.uk
    For Habr - url.co.uk/vrsdn. Immediately given HTML code and code to embed on the forums. Nice minimalistic interface. 8/10.
    Url.ie
    For the link, a code is generated for the forums, a QR Code and possible actions are shown with a link (sending, bookmarking / social networks). Easy interface, soft colors, clover leaf in the background and interesting functionality. What else does? Bookmarklet? He is. 9/10.
    WapURL
    For Habr - wapurl.co.uk/?M0FC3EJ. Statistics on addresses, bookmarklets (FF, IE), API. They promise to introduce registration soon. 5/10.
    X.se
    For Habr - www. x.se/dxf9 (exactly so, with "www", otherwise it produces "No DNS records"). The site is in Swedish, in which I am not strong, and therefore I could have missed something. It works smartly and without a reboot it issues a new address. It also suggests registering a .se or .asia domain. All. 5/10.
    Yatuc
    For Habr - yatuc.com/uub. YATUC - "Yet Another Tiny Url Creator". Statistics, link protection, password setting. Redirect taking into account added levels. A slightly diverging interface in English and German. 6/10.
    Pi URL
    For Habr - piurl.com/1FiL. Address preview, level redirect, API, bookmarklet. Keywords in the address for its description (added by the user when the link is published). 6/10.
    URLvi
    For Habr - urlvi.be/mrshj. Statistics are kept at the address, the password to it is set by the system, it is displayed immediately on the conversion page, it is important not to view it. There is a bookmarklet. 5/10.
     
     

    Work with preset combinations


    Decent URL
    For Habr with preference - habrahabr.decenturl.com/habr. Without preference - habrahabr.decenturl.com/half-decent-el3q. Thus, for the second level domain name, the level of the DecentUrl site is set, and after the slash, the preference combination (if specified) or arbitrary is placed. The solution is not the best for a simple reduction of the address, but for a bad website address or for remembering (rather than writing down meaningless combinations) a site can be convenient. 6/10.
    Doiop
    For Habr with preference - doiop.com/habr, without preference - doiop.com/g39ct8. 6/10.
    Easyurl
    For Habr with a preference - atu.ca/habr. Without preference, two options were issued - ecc.atu.ca and atu.ca/ecc. Allows you to specify one of the five domains on the basis of which the link will be created (the shortest is atu.ca). The site also has a bookmarking service, OpenID registration. 8/10.
    EzURL
    For Habr with preference - ezurl.eu/habr, without preference it didn’t work for me. A password is set to delete or edit the link in the future. 5/10.
    FhURL
    For Habr - fhurl.com/c3598. Everything is ascetic and clear. The top menu hid the inconspicuous link “Custom Url” (setting preferences), followed by options for loading the specified site “Redirect” (regular redirect; fhurl.com/habr) and “Iframe” (frame, you can specify Description and Keywords; fhurl. com / habr2). 6/10.
    Fly2
    For Habr with preference - fly2.ws/habr, without preference - fly2.ws/m887dbl. AJAX interface without a full page reload. At hand is a button to copy the formed link to the clipboard. Integration into the Google Toolbar. Account system. It looks pretty. There is a mascot - a bee. They say about themselves that is five times faster than TinyURL. 9/10.
    Metamark
    For Habr with a preference (called Nickname here) - xrl.us/habrahabr ("habr" was already taken). A big minus - if the site has already been added to the database, you will only be offered existing links (which may not be the most successful). There is a dubious opportunity to add a “secret” to the url (some additional combination of characters). There is a bookmarklet. 3/10.
    Minilien
    French version of Tiny Link (description similar).
    MooURL
    For Habr - moourl.com/oh8j1. The resulting link is immediately copied to the clipboard. After creating a short link, the opportunity “Give your moourl a personal touch” appears, which hides the familiar task of preferences (a pleasant moourl.com/habr was created for Habr), after which both links work. It looks pretty. There is a mascot - a cow. There is a bookmarklet. In addition to English, there is a Portuguese version of the site. 8/10.
    Myurl
    For Habr with preference - myurl.in/habr, without preference - myurl.in/gdMVT. There is a bookmarklet. There is a mode of batch renaming, when you can set several addresses at once, one per line. Create a short address, anonymize and protect the address. The site has the ability to create a mailbox in one click (actually in two) of the form abcdef@myurl.in for 24 hours. 9/10.
    Not Long
    When setting the required preference combination, it seems like an address of the form abcdef.notlong.com is created (alas, three attempts for Habr failed). It has its own statistics, bookmarklet and the ability to use the API in Perl. 5/10.
    SnipURL
    For Habr - snipurl.com/habra ("Habr" was already taken). It has its own bookmarklet, API, batch mode, account system. Everything is nice and comfortable. 9/10.
    StartURL For Habr issued - starturl.com/ooznk, having scored on the set alias. There are statistics of the last five addresses and “Top 5 URLs”. 4/10.
    Tiny Link
    For Habr - tinylink.com/?HvvDw2ko6O. Minimalistic interface (like ya.ru), everything is just the most necessary. After the conversion, in the same window it allows you to quickly fill out a form for sending addresses to 6 postal addresses (specify your name, postal address and comment only if you wish). 6/10.
    Tinyurl
    For Habr - tinyurl.com/hhabr (the "Habr" was already taken), without preference (or with busy alias) something like tinyurl.com/5wg2fs is proposed. One of the most famous resources of this kind. I think that it makes no sense to paint that there is standard work with a redirect, setting alias, preview urls, a button on the toolbar. There is a black list for the circle of addresses for conversion. 8/10.
    TraceURL
    For Habr - traceurl.com/go/2/habr, without preference the link looks similarly. There is a registration system with statistics, but for quick use it costs using the “Demo” account with the password “demo” (do not try to change, it will not work). Not the worst AJAX interface. 6/10.
    URLcut
    For Habr, urlcut.com/habr would turn out (there was no desire to deal with slipped ads that prevented the page from loading). There is a password protection for the formed addresses. 3/10.
    URLHawk
    For Habr - urlhawk.com/habr, without preference - urlhawk.com/anf. There is also a password, hiding the destination address, tracking statistics. 6/10.
    6URL
    For Habr immediately issued 6url.com/habr and habr.6url.com. To an attempt to create a short address, without preference, he answered that 66.135.52.151/habr already exists. It supports batch conversion (up to 6 addresses from the input field or from a given page). There is a gadget for the home page :) 6/10.
    URLPie
    For Habr - urlpire.com/?habra (for preference, "identifier" is from 5 to 255 characters), remembers previously added sites (gives a request to previously generated short addresses). Simple conversion. 5/10.
     
     

    No longer work


    301URL . Redirected to PRWeb.com, which reports that it is “is down for critical maintenance”. The only link on the page leads somewhere clearly not to our goal.
    A2N . Name Error: The domain name does not exist.
    B65 . There is no service, in its place is a standard promo page.
    FwdURL . There is nothing. Even scary.
    G8L . Server Failure: The name server was unable to process this query.
    LiteURL . Server Failure: The name server was unable to process this query.
    ShortenURL . Leads to pchardware.co.uk.
    Shortlinks. Sympathetic minimalism (and right), everything seems to be fine. After clicking the button in Windows carefully it asks if we really want to create a link. And then it drops in Runtime Error (Server Error in '/' Application). It's a shame.
    Shrinkr . Server Failure: The name server was unable to process this query.
    ShrinkURL . The page cannot be found.
    ShredURL . The Shred This URL button didn’t work in my test browsers. At leisure, let's see why. It seems like there are errors on the page.
    Shrtnd . Leads to the "fish" site.
    URLCutter . (113) No route to host.
    Url Tea . Site Temporarily Unavailable.
    U76. They didn’t want to start up, saying “Moviehole is currently having some issues with server load due to high traffic. We're working on it, and a solution for the future. "
    Xil . At my workplace (where I am writing from now) it gives out "Access is denied", but doesn’t go at home at all.
    Yep it . Redirect to noipl.com (shows client IP and browser).
     
     

    According to your requests :)


    B23
    For Habr - b23.ru/uc. Without setting preferences. There is a bookmarklet and API. An archive of their own (optional registration) and general link statistics (new, popular) are maintained. You can login using OpenID. Convenient, cute, fast. Russian interface! 9/10. // thanks  Killy
    Clck
    For Habr - clck.ru/UW. Simple, fast, pretty. Without setting preferences. There is a bookmarklet and request support (POST, GET). Russian interface! 9/10. // thanks  Zeraman
    Zi.ma
    For Habr - zi.ma/habr, without setting preferences - zi.ma/45876c. Ability to set a password, lifetime for the link. There is a system of accounts and, accordingly, statistics. There is a bookmarklet. SEO-friendly . 8/10. // thanks  Matolch
     
     

    Summary


    So, we throw out 17 non-working addresses from this list, and we have 51 resources left (+ yours) in order to shred our long and not so links. Of course, such short texts of the reviews are not suitable for the immediate selection of "their" resource. Therefore, I will take the liberty of recommending something from this list.

    If you need a heavyweight system with lots of bells and whistles, it is worth paying attention to EasyURL , Fly2 , MooURL , myurl , SnipURL , the TinyURL , Zi.ma .
    If you like click-received interface, try B23 , Clck (both in Russian!), Dwarfurl, Is.gd , Nutshell URL , RubyURL , Smallr , URL.co.uk , URLvi .
    For some other purposes (for example, I really want to have a bookmarklet or track statistics) - see the description.

    PS search Habré found more tr.im , a nice resource to job preferences for addresses and strings on twitter.
    PPS I would be glad if in the comments you tell which resource or whose bookmarklet you use and why, and also point out the shortcomings of the descriptions - for example, sometimes the functions were hidden very far away and were not obvious. By the way, I apologize for a bunch of text and the lack of screenshots. I say goodbye to sim, good luck to everyone :)

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