6 March 2007

Short / Tiny URL ... just do it yourself...

There are so many URL redirection services out there… and they all do a good job in some form or the other… but can you always depend on them being up … or worse yet redirecting your users elsewhere … not for me …

Let me first state I am not in the business of creating a service of tiny urls, but I put together a few php files that i think anyone could use on their own servers…

da demo

short.nuff-respec.com

da players (some)

An example … url123 is not in service as i write this … and the main one (tinyurl) that i have used really give nonsense urls … example: http://tinyurl.com/3ajqom … where does it go?

da difference

Basically the main difference is that it lives on your server… and you specify your own urls … and maintain your own database… now which one makes more sense to you?
http://short.nuff-respec.com/maps/hsquare
http://tinyurl.com/2kscmk

So my example is not as tiny (they have a smaller url to start with)... but it sure beats the original google address and is human readable …

da usage

url : the url you want to make tiny
domain alias : basically a short name if the domain
url alias : your own alias

Even though the aliases are optional … it’s worth putting them in … random strings will be generated and will not be as user friendly… An added touch is that once a domain alias has been set … all subsequent calls to that domain will automatically be tagged… i have already mapped “maps.google.com —> maps” and “www.google.com —> google” so i don’t have to fill in those domains again… go ahead try

da .htaccess file

Basically if file doesn’t exist .. then run “index.php”

.
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
 RewriteEngine On
 RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -f [OR]
 RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -d
 RewriteRule ^(.+) - [PT,L]
 RewriteRule ^(.*) index.php
</IfModule>

da source

If demand is there … i will write detail explanation of the source, but it is well commented and a basic novice should find it relatively easy to install on your own …

note … there was an error on line 220 in index.php … should be:

.
$short_url = $short_host . '/' . code(4);

shorturl.zip


good luck … how about some puppy images to leave you with !!


 

comment

what they saidwho said it

Hi :) Some great code there.. well done and tidy… we have used it for some of our site links http://tiny.wackyb.net thanks!

2007-04-25
Andy (WackyB)

I’m implementing it as we speak. Great code, works wonderfully! I’ll be continuing to make use of this long into the future.
tiny.fuzzy-dice.net

Thanks!

2008-06-04
KickMeElmo


note: you can only submit after you hit preview


nuff-respec is a weblog written by daniel bulli a senior web programmer in boston, ma.
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