[LINK] E-mail question

[Kim Holburn]

Another option is to make your own tinyurl: a cgi script, say a  
simple perl script with a name like "to" in the root directory.  You  
have a small text file with redirect mappings like:
today really_long_url_file_name/that/points/somewhere/else.html
tomorrow another/really_long_path/that/points/somewhere/else/again.html

So the url: http://my.site/to/today gets redirected to http://my.site/ 
really_long_url_file_name/that/points/somewhere/else.html

As I recall you can set it up as a catchall so that any non-existant  
filename will go to the catchall cgi script and either be recognised  
and redirected or passed to an error page as appropriate.


On 2007/Jun/12, at 6:54 AM, Ivan Trundle wrote:

> Thanks to everyone who responded both on and off Link.
>
> It looks to me as though there is no standard, and the use of angle  
> brackets isn't of any real help to those who are unable to read  
> longer URLs.
>
> Although it has been suggested that we use TinyURL or similar to  
> send out this kind of information, I regard using a third-party  
> website to direct people to our website as a highly unprofessional.
>
> I think that the 80:20 rule might well have to apply. And we will  
> continue to try to help those who at least are kind enough to tell  
> us that the URL doesn't work (mostly, they don't have a clue that  
> the last few characters have dropped off, and are mostly not  
> greatly interested in pursuing the problem, or even the right URL -  
> hence my desire to find a solution.
>
> Of course, I could ask our programmers to change their thinking,  
> and invent shorter URLs, but I've got more chance of changing the  
> way the rest of the world operates than changing our programmers.
>
> Thanks to all again. We will continue to make elliptical orbits on  
> this one.
>
> iT
>
>
> On 09/06/2007, at 12:37 PM, Rick Welykochy wrote:
>
>>
>> Ivan, I have a feeling that you and your colleagues are already
>> going around in circles similar to this, trying to find a
>> solution that works on the majority of email clients.
>
> --
> Ivan Trundle
> http://itrundle.com ivan at itrundle.com
> ph: +61 (0)418 244 259 fx: +61 (0)2 6286 8742
> skype: callto://ivanovitchk
>
> _______________________________________________
> Link mailing list
> Link at mailman.anu.edu.au
> http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link

--
Kim Holburn
IT Network & Security Consultant
Ph: +39 06 855 4294  M: +39 3494957443
mailto:kim at holburn.net  aim://kimholburn
skype://kholburn - PGP Public Key on request

Democracy imposed from without is the severest form of tyranny.
                           -- Lloyd Biggle, Jr. Analog, Apr 1961