Short or long URLs?

Long URL Firefox add on

In the internet nothing will work without URLs. Everybody has at least heard once about the “http://” – thing and is often called just a link.

It links to a special recource like HTTP, FTP or local installed applications using a internet connection for example

• Skype (callto://dj_n4cer)

• Edkonkey (ed2k://%7Cfile%7CSUSE.LiNUX.10.0-retail-boxed-dvd-duallayer.part1.Nhipcau.net.rar%7C4030000000%7CAA6 1774DDD0E6B233BBBA46923C0DF04%7C/)

URL is a short term for Uniform Recource Locator. They are following a standardized formatting rule so that they will work everywhere at anytime.

But URLs can get very long, because it directs the server to a special path if a slash is following. If there are more slashes, then it goes into a deeper level, i. e.

• http://www.server.com/userblog/blog/archive/articles/2008/12/01/this-is-an-article-about-long-and-short-urls.

This is convinient to read, but not convinient to type, especially on a mobile device. For that reason there are numerous services providing you short URLs like

• http://kurl.de/abc342

which is definitely easier and faster to hack into a phone keyboard. In real, if you open this URL, it redirects you to the original one.

It is often used at Twitter, where you have a limited available amount of characters. Some free suppliers are:

• TinyUrl.com
• Kurl.de
• metaMark.net

But the big disadvantage is, that you do not know where it leads to before you open it.

If want to know the truth in time you may use the Firefox Plugin Long URL please.