Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

I tried it on my start-ups domain. The result is interesting :)

"The web address you entered was http://rockingrackets.com/.

This has been converted to http://rockingrackets.twi.bz/a You can copy and paste it from here.

Your original web address had 26 characters, and the converted version has 30 characters."

I can see how this will always happen with the document root of any domain, so maybe you can refuse to shorten those, or make it a kind of in-your-face suggestion that it's silly to shorten a relatively short URL?




And didn't it also say: "Since the original web address is, in this case, shorter than the twi.bz version it's better to use the original. "?


If the original is shorter, just return the original. You can make a note as to why you gave back the original, but I think we can safely assume the user wants the shortest he can get, so give it to him.


But if they add URL click tracking, you still might want the new URL, even if it is longer.


Ehrm... It does now in any case. I didn't see it before blushes (Seriously, how can I miss the only line on a four line page that completely invalidates the point I was trying to make?)

Anyway, that probably was a good demonstration why it should be more in-my-face.

And it also demonstrates why web browsers need to send an im-an-idiot header :(




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: