There are a plenty of URL shortening services around that are both free and easy to use. URL shortening services are highly important when you have to share an interesting link with your friends or contacts online and don’t want to pass on an ugly URL which might just get chopped off at the other end, rendering it useless. URL shortening services such as TinyURL have become highly popular in the recent past. It becomes easy for one to share a link online be it on Facebook, MySpace or Twitter using a URL shortening service. So I was just wondering if I could have my very own URL shortening service which I could use personally or allow visitors on my blog to use it. So I Googled for a while and picked up a tiny class written in PHP, modified it as per my taste and bang! I have my very own URL shortening service here called Linx! Some of my friends were interested in applying this on their blogs/websites as well so I have decided to put it up here.
First of all, if anyone of you is wondering why I should have my own URL shortening service. Well here are a few good points;
- Every time you find an interesting link you want to share with your friends and if your link looks something like http://yoursite.com/1, you’re not just passing on a link but you’re passing on your website name. Publicity!
- Links are destined to go viral. So if around 1000 people love the content, they’ll pass on the link further. If even 2% of them case about the yoursite.com part, bang! You’ve got traffic baby!
I’m sure there are a plenty of more reasons you’ll find to suit your needs. Anyways here’s all the information on the script part you’ll need to get started.
HarryJerry Linx 1.0
What is this script all about?
- HarryJerry Linx is a simple script written entirely in PHP and uses a MySQL database to create short URLs out of big bad ugly ones.
- It produces URLs of the form: http://yoursitename.com/p
eg. http://linx.harryjerry.com/p
How to download the script?
- Click here to download the HarryJerry Linx script. It’s tiny (just a little over 5KB) and won’t take more than a second.
How to install the script?
- There’s a nice little shiny page included with the script, titled ‘Read me’, and it’s really great if you read it. I have included all the installation steps from a very basic point of view. It’s very easy to install and takes only 5 minutes.
What are the minimum system requirements?
- You’ll need a web hosting account with PHP/MySQL support. That’s it!
How about support?
- In case you face any problems you can post them here (on the comments section), e-mail me at , contact me on Twitter (harry_jerry). I can also offer you free installation services, just in case.
Future Development
I have a few more ideas on this script. I’ll be working on them regularly and updating the script to add extra functionality. In case you like Harryjerry Linx, please post your feedback.
Article by Harry
Harry has written 461 awesome articles on HarryJerry.com.
About: ...an engineering student, a freelancer, a professional blogger, a loving lover, too shy, an Internet freak....and everything I shouldn't be.
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Tags: downloads, free, mysql, php, script, tinyurl, url shortening
