6 ms·

You can't put a hyperlink on a magazine, the tv, or the radio. There are definitely reasonable applications of shortened URLs that apply outside of the normal d

You can't put a hyperlink on a magazine, the tv, or the radio. There are definitely reasonable applications of shortened URLs that apply outside of the normal day-to-day web browsing and applications.

Semaphor 4y ago
I agree, we sell PDFs with the ability to be printed, all links are short links (on our own domain, though) so they aren’t lost/inaccessible when printed.
prmoustache 4y ago
qrcodes are superior for most printed usage. It never occured to me to type an url from a radio or TV message and I've never heard anyone spelling an url from a url shortener. All TV/radio broadcasters will rather tell you check for more information in "name of the show" on "domain of the TV/radio channel" or their social media feed. They all have a web presence anyway.
- Volundr 4y ago
  > qrcodes are superior for most printed usage Disagree. I can't scan or type a QR code into my computer.
  - prmoustache 4y ago
    Usuallt you don't deal with printed code when you are in front of a computer and even then it is easy to scan the code with your phone and paste the link on your computer.
    - Volundr 4y ago
      I don't? I do most of my reading at home where I have multiple computers in easy reach. I'm also not sure how I'm "easily" copy/pasting between my phone/computer. Is this an iOS/OS X thing? Not everyone is in that eco-system.
      - jcynix 4y ago
        Quite a number of apps allow you to easily copy/paste between Android phone and computer: - BlitzMail, via email - Joplin, via desktop client - Nextcloud/Owncloud - Termux, e.g. via ssh, rsync, ... Various messenger apps with desktop clients or web interfaces, e.g. Element (matrix.org) or Threema.
        Volundr 4y ago
        I run NextCloud on my computer and laptop, and just checked... no I can't "just copy/paste" from my phone to my computer, or at least if it can the interface is hidden to the point I can't figure it out. I'd have to scan the QR code, have it pop open my browser, select the url, long press to copy, navigate to the NextCloud app, create a text file, paste the url, save the file, open it on my computer, copy the URL, and paste it into my browser. Admittedly, sending it via e-mail or something would cut out a couple of those steps (still a far cry from "just copy/paste"), and is what I do on those rare occasions I do need to take a URL from my phone to my laptop, but you know what's even easier? Just sitting down at the damn keyboard and typing in whatever.com/coolthing. Why do I need two devices just to browse your damn website on a decent sized screen or buy your product?
        jcynix 4y ago
        While I agree that textual links and qr codes aren't the best solutions for certain tasks, the workflow you describe appears a bit too complicated. What I do: - scan a qrcode with a qrcode app (I use a version from f-droid) - choose "share as text" in the app - select the Owncloud app, which asks me what name the file should have No browser step needed on the phone. In the desktop's browser I navigate to the Owncloud, open the file just saved and click on the link. No cut/copy/paste involved. What I really do: - scan the qr code (or the text with an OCR app like TextFairy) - share the snippet with the Joplin app - open the Joplin desktop version and there's the link or text Or I actually use Blitzmail (share as text from some other app, which counts as the "cut" step of cut/copy/paste), then select the email arriving on the desktop and select the link (i.e. "copy" ) and "paste" it into the browser, where the last step is usually done by the desktop which offers a "open this link" menu for links in texts. Using the Blitzmail app serves as an easy record keeping device too, when I just send a whole text block containing a link, so I have the context at hand later, if needed.
  - sph 4y ago
    That's because desktop OS vendors still haven't integrated that feature. They just don't care. But it's not rocket science. Why the heck my iOS camera has a built in QRcode reader, but why doesn't Firefox or my webcam app on my PC? It's niche but I always come across it when setting up a new 2FA account and I need to save the code through the mobile app instead of my PC. Such bullshit.
    - axelthegerman 4y ago
      Can't wait to watch people trying to scan QR codes from their TV with the selfie camera on a laptop or even desktop. Agreed that QR codes are better for mobile devices and sometimes useful on a laptop. But also QR codes can only be scanned as long as visible. corp.ltd/specialoffer is easy to remember and type on any device
    - InitialBP 4y ago
      Unrelated recommendation - 1Password will scan QR codes and can store TOTP 2fa tokens for you. I assume other password managers also have similar features.
- steventey 4y ago
  Just wanted to chime in and say that QR Codes are next on the roadmap! Would be fun to learn how to build those
- sosborn 4y ago
  > qrcodes are superior for most printed usage. Agreed >It never occurred to me to type an url from a radio or TV message and I've never heard anyone spelling an url from a url shortener. It happens. How do I know? Every time I've included a url (shortened or not) in a radio/tv ad, I've gotten verified traffic. > All TV/radio broadcasters will rather tell you check for more information in "name of the show" on "domain of the TV/radio channel" or their social media feed. This is a best practice for sure, but we all answer to someone, and that someone might not care.
- stjohnswarts 4y ago
  how are they any better than url shorteners? Now I have to download a qr code reader, screen grab it, convert it with said app, and that opens in a browser
  - blowski 4y ago
    Aren't QR code readers built into Android and iOS?
    - solardev 4y ago
      Depends on your OS, manufacturer, and version. In Android, it depends on your camera app (and version). Later Google Camera versions have that, for example, but earlier ones (as of a few years ago) did not.
    - stjohnswarts 4y ago
      I'm on PC at least 75% of my time and not on my phone. My phone is mostly for messaging, music, email, and killing time at the airport/airplane/wherever I'm waiting. I get the point about extremely long URLs though, but most of the time that's not an issue unless you're printing it out
  - prmoustache 4y ago
    apart from the download that happens once, it is just a case of pointing your camera to the code and the browser open by the touching the screen once. Quicker than typing a shortened url.
  - prmoustache 4y ago
    They are better because you know the exact url you will reach before sending it to your browser.
indymike 4y ago
Bitly exists because of Twitter and SMS character limits.
- tenacious_tuna 4y ago
  I run into similar problems in a corporate context. Being able to quickly tell someone "the provisioning portal is at corp.short/provision" is easily 10x more useful than "go look in the wiki for the link"
  - reilly3000 4y ago
    See also: golinks
- extra88 4y ago
  I don't know how long this has been true but all links in tweets are replaced with Twitter's own link-shortener links (t.co). No matter how short your link is, in a tweet it will consume 23 characters. https://help.twitter.com/en/using-twitter/how-to-tweet-a-link https://help.twitter.com/en/using-twitter/how-to-tweet-a-lin...
  - indymike 4y ago
    This happened after bit.ly and other shorteners started to have great financial success. Ecosystem annexation at it's best...

Semaphor 4y ago

I agree, we sell PDFs with the ability to be printed, all links are short links (on our own domain, though) so they aren’t lost/inaccessible when printed.

prmoustache 4y ago

qrcodes are superior for most printed usage. It never occured to me to type an url from a radio or TV message and I've never heard anyone spelling an url from a url shortener. All TV/radio broadcasters will rather tell you check for more information in "name of the show" on "domain of the TV/radio channel" or their social media feed. They all have a web presence anyway.

Volundr 4y ago
> qrcodes are superior for most printed usage Disagree. I can't scan or type a QR code into my computer.
- prmoustache 4y ago
  Usuallt you don't deal with printed code when you are in front of a computer and even then it is easy to scan the code with your phone and paste the link on your computer.
  - Volundr 4y ago
    I don't? I do most of my reading at home where I have multiple computers in easy reach. I'm also not sure how I'm "easily" copy/pasting between my phone/computer. Is this an iOS/OS X thing? Not everyone is in that eco-system.
    - jcynix 4y ago
      Quite a number of apps allow you to easily copy/paste between Android phone and computer: - BlitzMail, via email - Joplin, via desktop client - Nextcloud/Owncloud - Termux, e.g. via ssh, rsync, ... Various messenger apps with desktop clients or web interfaces, e.g. Element (matrix.org) or Threema.
      - Volundr 4y ago
        I run NextCloud on my computer and laptop, and just checked... no I can't "just copy/paste" from my phone to my computer, or at least if it can the interface is hidden to the point I can't figure it out. I'd have to scan the QR code, have it pop open my browser, select the url, long press to copy, navigate to the NextCloud app, create a text file, paste the url, save the file, open it on my computer, copy the URL, and paste it into my browser. Admittedly, sending it via e-mail or something would cut out a couple of those steps (still a far cry from "just copy/paste"), and is what I do on those rare occasions I do need to take a URL from my phone to my laptop, but you know what's even easier? Just sitting down at the damn keyboard and typing in whatever.com/coolthing. Why do I need two devices just to browse your damn website on a decent sized screen or buy your product?
        jcynix 4y ago
        While I agree that textual links and qr codes aren't the best solutions for certain tasks, the workflow you describe appears a bit too complicated. What I do: - scan a qrcode with a qrcode app (I use a version from f-droid) - choose "share as text" in the app - select the Owncloud app, which asks me what name the file should have No browser step needed on the phone. In the desktop's browser I navigate to the Owncloud, open the file just saved and click on the link. No cut/copy/paste involved. What I really do: - scan the qr code (or the text with an OCR app like TextFairy) - share the snippet with the Joplin app - open the Joplin desktop version and there's the link or text Or I actually use Blitzmail (share as text from some other app, which counts as the "cut" step of cut/copy/paste), then select the email arriving on the desktop and select the link (i.e. "copy" ) and "paste" it into the browser, where the last step is usually done by the desktop which offers a "open this link" menu for links in texts. Using the Blitzmail app serves as an easy record keeping device too, when I just send a whole text block containing a link, so I have the context at hand later, if needed.
- sph 4y ago
  That's because desktop OS vendors still haven't integrated that feature. They just don't care. But it's not rocket science. Why the heck my iOS camera has a built in QRcode reader, but why doesn't Firefox or my webcam app on my PC? It's niche but I always come across it when setting up a new 2FA account and I need to save the code through the mobile app instead of my PC. Such bullshit.
  - axelthegerman 4y ago
    Can't wait to watch people trying to scan QR codes from their TV with the selfie camera on a laptop or even desktop. Agreed that QR codes are better for mobile devices and sometimes useful on a laptop. But also QR codes can only be scanned as long as visible. corp.ltd/specialoffer is easy to remember and type on any device
  - InitialBP 4y ago
    Unrelated recommendation - 1Password will scan QR codes and can store TOTP 2fa tokens for you. I assume other password managers also have similar features.
steventey 4y ago
Just wanted to chime in and say that QR Codes are next on the roadmap! Would be fun to learn how to build those
sosborn 4y ago
> qrcodes are superior for most printed usage. Agreed >It never occurred to me to type an url from a radio or TV message and I've never heard anyone spelling an url from a url shortener. It happens. How do I know? Every time I've included a url (shortened or not) in a radio/tv ad, I've gotten verified traffic. > All TV/radio broadcasters will rather tell you check for more information in "name of the show" on "domain of the TV/radio channel" or their social media feed. This is a best practice for sure, but we all answer to someone, and that someone might not care.
stjohnswarts 4y ago
how are they any better than url shorteners? Now I have to download a qr code reader, screen grab it, convert it with said app, and that opens in a browser
- blowski 4y ago
  Aren't QR code readers built into Android and iOS?
  - solardev 4y ago
    Depends on your OS, manufacturer, and version. In Android, it depends on your camera app (and version). Later Google Camera versions have that, for example, but earlier ones (as of a few years ago) did not.
  - stjohnswarts 4y ago
    I'm on PC at least 75% of my time and not on my phone. My phone is mostly for messaging, music, email, and killing time at the airport/airplane/wherever I'm waiting. I get the point about extremely long URLs though, but most of the time that's not an issue unless you're printing it out
- prmoustache 4y ago
  apart from the download that happens once, it is just a case of pointing your camera to the code and the browser open by the touching the screen once. Quicker than typing a shortened url.
- prmoustache 4y ago
  They are better because you know the exact url you will reach before sending it to your browser.

indymike 4y ago

Bitly exists because of Twitter and SMS character limits.

tenacious_tuna 4y ago
I run into similar problems in a corporate context. Being able to quickly tell someone "the provisioning portal is at corp.short/provision" is easily 10x more useful than "go look in the wiki for the link"
- reilly3000 4y ago
  See also: golinks
extra88 4y ago
I don't know how long this has been true but all links in tweets are replaced with Twitter's own link-shortener links (t.co). No matter how short your link is, in a tweet it will consume 23 characters. https://help.twitter.com/en/using-twitter/how-to-tweet-a-link https://help.twitter.com/en/using-twitter/how-to-tweet-a-lin...
- indymike 4y ago
  This happened after bit.ly and other shorteners started to have great financial success. Ecosystem annexation at it's best...