dl.tl - link shortener - webdevRefinery Forum

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DarkCoder

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Posted 11 September 2011 - 05:28 AM (#1)

dl.tl - link shortener

I've just finished the first version of my URL shortener - dl.tl

It uses some CSS3 transitions (for the tooltips) but the fading of the input and button are both done through jQuery, as is most of the AJAX.

In later versions of the site, I am looking to add analytics for the short URLs.

I am looking to add the functionality of choosing your short URL - I am just not sure how I could fit this into the design. Any ideas?

lynxphp

Cyril

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Posted 11 September 2011 - 05:51 AM (#2)

Nice idea, but the fading in / out doesn't really feel right. I'll explain a little later, busy right now

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DarkCoder

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Posted 11 September 2011 - 06:16 AM (#3)

cyrilmengin, on 11 September 2011 - 05:51 AM, said:

Nice idea, but the fading in / out doesn't really feel right. I'll explain a little later, busy right now

One of the reasons behind the animation is to give it time to execute the AJAX request to generate the short link.

lynxphp

callumacrae

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Posted 11 September 2011 - 06:33 AM (#4)

You're just using it for animations and AJAX, why not cut down the page loading time hugely and use real js?

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Posted 11 September 2011 - 07:30 AM (#5)

Awesome stuff

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Posted 11 September 2011 - 07:31 AM (#6)

Urgh, the short urls redirect to the site, so there's a flash of "dl.tl"

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Posted 11 September 2011 - 09:17 AM (#7)

cyrilmengin, on 11 September 2011 - 07:31 AM, said:

Urgh, the short urls redirect to the site, so there's a flash of "dl.tl"

No, they're the home url with a hash attached to it. It uses JS to redirect, which is terrible (as long as it isn't Node.js).

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Qasim

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Posted 11 September 2011 - 09:41 AM (#8)

I'm really loving the simplicity and design of the UI. But wouldnt it be more appropriate for the redirect to be server-sided? Every redirect the page first has to load jQuery, do the AJAX and then redirect which takes a noticeably long time. Nice domain you snagged there though

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ShanePerreault

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Posted 11 September 2011 - 12:28 PM (#9)

Javascript doesn't seem to be the answer for a service like this. Good job and all, I mean, it's a great application, but I think something more like a Sinatra app with Redis store would keep speed up and effort small.

Daniel15

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Posted 11 September 2011 - 07:00 PM (#10)

Looks good so far! As others have mentioned, try making the redirect server-side, it'll make it more responsive.

I bought dl.vc a while ago, "DL" are my initials. I'm kinda upset I didn't get "dl.tl" because I like that domain a lot more (as "tl" could be interpreted as "too long", perfect for a URL shortener)!!

Quote

I am looking to add the functionality of choosing your short URL - I am just not sure how I could fit this into the design. Any ideas?

What is your database schema at the moment?

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Daniel15 is ruining my life D:

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When i grow up I want to be a Daniel15.

DarkCoder

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Posted 12 September 2011 - 10:26 AM (#11)

Modifying it to server-side would be more difficult now that it has launched, because the existing URLs use a # to start the URL (which cannot be picked up server-side).

EDIT: Just pushed a new update - redirect is now done server-side.
JavaScript is still present to make sure that previous links still work.

Daniel15, on 11 September 2011 - 07:00 PM, said:

What is your database schema at the moment?

I can do it in my database, I mean in the UI, I don't know where I could fit the button in.

Daniel15, on 11 September 2011 - 07:00 PM, said:

I bought dl.vc a while ago, "DL" are my initials. I'm kinda upset I didn't get "dl.tl" because I like that domain a lot more (as "tl" could be interpreted as "too long", perfect for a URL shortener)!!

Yeah, I actually got that address the day before yesterday, so it was still available when you searched! But I didn't pick it for the "too long" abbreviation, I just compiled a list of available two letter domains and this was the one that I preferred because I think it rhymes.

This post has been edited by DarkCoder: 12 September 2011 - 10:39 AM

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Posted 12 September 2011 - 12:23 PM (#12)

Didn't read through whole thread - are you checking for repeated URLs?

e.g, so "www.google.com" wouldn't have 20 different shortenings.

DarkCoder

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Posted 12 September 2011 - 12:24 PM (#13)

souless, on 12 September 2011 - 12:23 PM, said:

Didn't read through whole thread - are you checking for repeated URLs?

e.g, so "www.google.com" wouldn't have 20 different shortenings.

It does have different URLs, but this is intentional - I intend to add some basic analytics at some point.

lynxphp

Cyril

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Posted 12 September 2011 - 12:29 PM (#14)

Honestly, at this stage, I'd take it down, finish off the analytics / tracking / redirecting, and then relaunch properly

It's going to be hell to maintain / upgrade otherwise, as you can already see

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Posted 12 September 2011 - 12:32 PM (#15)

cyrilmengin, on 12 September 2011 - 12:29 PM, said:

Honestly, at this stage, I'd take it down, finish off the analytics / tracking / redirecting, and then relaunch properly

It's going to be hell to maintain / upgrade otherwise, as you can already see

To be honest, I don't think that is really necessary. Analytics is the only real thing to add, and I think I should be able to do that without taking it down - I am just going to add some logging to existing scripts, and update the "lengthening" script to treat URLs with a + on the end differently.

lynxphp

Mo3

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Posted 12 September 2011 - 01:27 PM (#16)

API and custom domain support please, might use this for Meetastic.

Anyway, great site! What language/database do you use?

souless, on 12 September 2011 - 12:23 PM, said:

Didn't read through whole thread - are you checking for repeated URLs?

e.g, so "www.google.com" wouldn't have 20 different shortenings.

This might not be a good idea, it would make analytics hell. If I were to create a short link to monitor traffic to a certain site, I wouldn't want to share a short url with hundreds of other people.

EDIT: Also, what do you use Cloudflare for?

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DarkCoder

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Posted 12 September 2011 - 01:39 PM (#17)

Mo3, on 12 September 2011 - 01:27 PM, said:

EDIT: Also, what do you use Cloudflare for?

Caching, mostly. In the 2.5 days the site has been online, it has saved me 3MB out of a total of 7MB used by the site.

Mo3, on 12 September 2011 - 01:27 PM, said:

custom domain support please

Hmmm, I'm not sure how I would go about implementing this. You could just set say meetastic.com/[SHORT URL] to forward to dl.tl and then just use the (not-yet-added) API to create more URLs?

Mo3, on 12 September 2011 - 01:27 PM, said:

API support please

I'm working on this. It will probably be a REST API.

lynxphp

Mo3

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Posted 12 September 2011 - 01:40 PM (#18)

DarkCoder, on 12 September 2011 - 01:34 PM, said:

Caching, mostly. In the 2.5 days the site has been online, it has saved me 3MB out of a total of 7MB used by the site.

Hmmm, I'm not sure how I would go about implementing this. You could just set say meetastic.com/[SHORT URL] to forward to dl.tl and then just use the (not-yet-added) API to create more URLs?

No idea, I saw it on bit.ly. You have to point that domain's DNS to their server.

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Posted 12 September 2011 - 01:42 PM (#19)

Mo3, on 12 September 2011 - 01:40 PM, said:

No idea, I saw it on bit.ly. You have to point that domain's DNS to their server.

Hmmm... This seems like it might be a little bit too complicated... You could either use the forwarding that I outlined above, or just use the dl.tl links.

lynxphp