Ever wanted to send someone a website link only to find it was longer than your message?

Here is an example of one of those long links:

www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?ovi=1&mqmap.x=300&mqmap.y=75&mapdata=
%252bKZmeiIh6N%252bIgpXRP3bylMaN0O4z8OOUkZWYe7NRH6ldDN96YFTIUmSH3Q6
OzE5XVqcuc5zb%252fY5wy1MZwTnT2pu%252bNMjOjsHjvNlygTRMzqazPStrN%252f
1YzA0oWEWLwkHdhVHeG9sG6cMrfXNJKHY6fML4o6Nb0SeQm75ET9jAjKelrmqBCNta%
252bsKC9n8jslz%252fo188N4g3BvAJYuzx8J8r%252f1fPFWkPYg%252bT9Su5KoQ9
YpNSj%252bmo0h0aEK%252bofj3f6vCP

Note how ghastly the formatting has become. Imagine pasting that into an email with the message, “Check out this map of Boston!” Here is a way to fix those unwieldy links using TinyURL.com.

Steps

  1. Go to the TinyURL website. Look for “Add TinyURL to your browser’s toolbar”.
  2. Drag the link to your toolbar. It adds Javascript to the browser button. You only need to do this once.
  3. Open the link you want to send someone in a browser window and then click the TinyURL button. It automatically converts the link into a much smaller one, which you can easily cut and paste into your email.
  4. Now, that ghastly, original link from above will be condensed to “tinyurl.com/o2mqu”. The link never expires!

Tips

  • SnipURL is another website that offers a similar functionality.
  • iSuccess sells a cheap script ($10.00) that lets you do your own TinyURL. A video showing how it works is on YouTube.

Warnings

  • Be forewarned that many wiki-websites [including wikiHow] have most URL-shortening services blacklisted, due to spam issues. Thus, you will not be able to add them onto an article.
  • Some people may hesitate to click a link that uses a URL-shortening service fearing spam or even viruses.