If I were writing a popular URL shortener, the most useful thing I could add would be short (2 character) prefix to the random link, indicating the target type (e.g. video is foo.bla/vd12345). This fixes a pet peeve of mine, when I follow an Mobile Safari link to Youtube on an EDGE network, causing an application shift. Also, 95% of videos on the web these days are better rendered in text, and I just want to ignore them.
Interesting article. To solve the security issue he mentions, I started trying out various twitter clients. I ended up using Nambu for Mac OS X. Mouse over a link gives you the real URL, if it has one. Personally, the extra latency that comes from using URL shortening services doesn't bother me, but the thought that the service might disappear does.
exactly, just you have to keep in mind that you can't allow html posts, while the links should also be able to have the names. I think RedCloth notation for link will do "title":http://link.com if in need for a link name, but if not, then definitively you need to shorten the links somehow.. You don't want the whole screen of a cell phone covered in a single link?
[+] [-] archgrove|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] msc|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] TweedHeads|16 years ago|reply
Replace all urls with a "link" enclosed on an <A> tag
No need to reinvent the wheel, it's been there since the dawn of the web.[+] [-] dejan|16 years ago|reply