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A long time ago, people would use TinyURL to shorten long URLs that they would include in documents and emails. However, these days, most people prefer to use blt.ly or goo.gl. The reason for this change is that the interface for these latter two is a little more pleasant to the eye, but more importantly, they offer several additional features. They are both very easy to use and their usage is very clear once you navigate to their sites. For example, say you want to shorten the following link:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?db=genomeprj&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=Overview&list_uids=29447
and paste the link into the field at the top of the page. Then, click Shorten. It will return the following short link to you.
If you sign up for an account, you can even customize the shortened links to match your own name or brand, for example. Link shortening tools are great for making sure your readers get to the right URL, with the added benefit that you can track user metrics!
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Mar 1 11 11:50 pm
Steve, Have you considered is.gd. It is a whole character shorter than bit.ly and goo.gl… It also generates QR (Quick Response) 2 dimensional barcodes. You can also SELECT YOUR OWN (probably what you meant byown name or brand), and get statistics, all for free (w/o an account…). You can also tell it to make the shortened URL pronouncable (even if this makes it longer). Hope this helps….
Mar 3 11 9:04 am
Thanks, Adam! You win the award for being the first official commenter. Believe it or not, you actually win a small prize! Check your email in the next few days. I think you will like what you won.
I was aware of is.gd and I like their feature set. I think it exceeds the others in some respects. However, since this is a design blog, I thought the two I highlighted had a slightly better design and user interface. That having been said, I want to write is.gd up in a coming post.
And no, there are no prizes for being the second official commenter!