URL shortening is a technique on the World Wide Web where a user makes a web page available under a very short URL in addition to the original URL... There are several reasons to use URL shortening:
Avoid URL garbling
Currently, web developers tend to pass descriptive attributes in the URL to represent data hierarchies, command structures, transaction paths and session information. This may result in a URL that is aesthetically unpleasant and very long and difficult to remember. Copying a URL that is hundreds of characters long can make the URL garbled. Thus, a short URL is much more user friendly and useful to copy from an e-mail message or to a forum post.
Use the smallest space possible
On Twitter and some other instant messaging services, there is a total character LIMIT to posted messages. Using a URL shortener can enable users to include a URL that would not normally fit.
A QR Code that stores a URL can be made physically smaller (or more readable in the same size) by using a URL shortener to minimize a URL it encodes.
Reading aloud
To accomplish this objective any URL shortening service can be useful. However, those which let the user choose the URL, are more suited for this task. Some URL shortening services, such as Ity.im, generate URLs that are human-readable, though the resulting strings are sometimes longer than those generated by a length-optimized service.
Written by on 4.1.2010
