http://ideas.welcomebackstage.com/ideatorrent/item/14/
What doesn't the BBC have its own short URL service?

[10 votes] Solution #1: Code it


[-2 votes] Solution #2: Use an existing API


]]> en-us Thu, 01 Jan 2009 20:06:48 +0000 Wed, 02 Sep 2009 15:38:33 +0000 QAPoll module http://ideas.welcomebackstage.com/ideatorrent/idea/14/ Fri, 02 Jan 2009 17:54:48 +0000
I'm not sure I understand why people don't like URLs - they are what makes the web, services that try to replace them (eg DOI) or services that provide another level of indirection and therefore a single point of failure cause fractures in the fabric of the web. Don't do it people! ]]> Sat, 03 Jan 2009 09:26:49 +0000
Other than that you'd be just as well using the full URL.

However it would be interesting for the BBC to offer short url's for some of their news stories and it shouldn't be THAT difficult really - the code to do this isn't exactly ground breaking.

For news you could just use the same code already in place.

So the page could exist at:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7814054.stm

But have an alternative URL at
http://bbc.im/7814054

In fact a link to an iPlayer video could exist at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00gndt1/

To: http://bbc.im/b00gndt1

Dot IM is the domain for Isle of Man and is already owned by the BBC and not in active use.

I know about the whole google juice thing but to be honest the BBC doesn't really need to worry about Google Juice.

Oh and the short url service I set up is gtfa.eu (get the flip away you).]]> Tue, 06 Jan 2009 19:26:04 +0000 Wed, 07 Jan 2009 08:40:28 +0000
There already seems to be stuff out there that does what we want, such as the Catalyst plugin below, suggested by a developer friend of mine, Alex Howarth.

I also agree that tinyURLs are often just annoying and counter-productive -- even when they use meaningful names. For example: I read the Technology Guardian and see interesting links, but generally don't remember them, whereas I might have remembered a domain name (at least).

Simple, short, logical URLs, on the other hand, are a Good Thing.

...........................

Download http://search.cpan.org/~bayside/Catalyst-Plugin-CRUD-0.21/

There's a sample TinyURL Catalyst application that works out of the box.

Decompress the tarball. cd Catalyst-Plugin-CRUD-0.21/sample/TinyURL

make it and then:

./script/tinyurl_server.pl

http://127.0.0.1:3000/tinyurl/create
http://127.0.0.1:3000/tinyurl/list

the ID's in the list are the short urls,. so:

http://127.0.0.1:3000/1

will redirect to the first URL in the list

...

You could obviously replace the auto incremental id with something home brewed to make it a little prettier than /1 /2 /3 /40237 etc
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http://www.cafeconleche.org/#January_18_2009_39520]]> Mon, 26 Jan 2009 12:55:51 +0000 Wed, 02 Sep 2009 15:38:33 +0000