Kevins Tips

What’s a URL? Simply put, a URL is a Web Address like http://KevinsTips.com

Many times a URL is MUCH longer then that and may have all kinds of information in it. Very often, the long URLs come from places like News websites like CNN. When you copy/paste the URL and email it to someone, half the time it get’s cut into several lines and may not work.

Along comes “TinyURL”.

TinyURL is a simple concept, it’s just a unique, short, URL that will forward you to that long URL. It’s also simple to use. Highlight the long URL, Right-click on your mouse and select Copy (or Ctrl-C), then go to the TinyURL website, Right-click on your mouse and select Paste (or Shift-Insert) into the form. Then click on the “Make Tiny URL” Button. You will be given a URL like http://tinyurl.com/68xq68 or you can make a custom one like http://www.tinyurl.com/kevinstips (if it’s available) If you put this URL into your browser, it will bring you to the same web page as the long URL.

There are some other websites that do this same thing, TinyURL is the one I’ve been reliably using for years and is used by most people. Firefox also has an Add on that makes the entire process even easier by simply doing a Right-click on the webpage your on, and select “Create TinyURL for this Page” from the pop up menu. Then you just shift-insert (ie. paste) it where you want.

Website: TinyURL