HN Explorer

10 comments

[ 2.5 ms ] story [ 40.8 ms ] thread
rakoo
Make the shortened link clickable, so I can right-click -> copy link and then paste it wherever I need.
critiq
Thanks, will definitely add it.
conradk
Another idea would be to auto select the link when you click it. This means you could have a "workflow" similar to: click, cmd/ctrl + c, done
smt88
Why would I use this? (Not saying I wouldn't, just want to know why you built it and why I should use it instead of an existing service.)

The benefit of Bitly is that users recognize the link. It doesn't make them feel like they're about to get a virus.

Furthermore, Bitly has lots of nice features and actively fights malicious links. So the truth is, users actually can trust Bitly links a bit more than a service that just started up.

critiq
Yes agree that there is trust factor, also there are dozen of similar services. However I came across inquiries for shortening api services which are free / cheap. as per that there was bit of exclusivity required.

At the moment all still in flux. Thanks for your honest comments.

conradk
IMO, what would be cool would be an open API where you don't need any kind of developer key to create a short link.

Isn't Bitly free too?

critiq
Yes, api is there already. Its simple http post based one. Other important factor we are thinking is NOT TRACKING any links.
krapp
It shortens an https:// link to http://, and it also shortens invalid links.

Trying to add a js alert I noticed the preview allows arbitrary html to display, but the end result was useless - http://xiv.in/ZW4NL and trying different schemes caused http to be prepended to the url by default.

I would suggest trying to validate the urls, and at least attempting to connect and get a response once before hashing them. This will at least result in less junk in your database (or wherever you're storing them) if you dump invalid links altogether.

critiq
Thank you, will check and fix it.