Not sure if "off-topic" is where this belongs, but I'd like to raise the serious question:
Should tinyurl.com and similar third-party web-tools be used here at HWA? (from now on in this post, "tinyurl" will be used to represent any and all such companies/websites)
The reason I ask is that I do have at least three concerns about relying on and using a third-party "tinyurl" company to shorten the length of URLs in HWA threads. The two most significant concerns are covered here.
Why "tinyurl" is used
"Tinyurl" takes a loooong URL and shrinks it to a short link that helps keep the width of HWA posts reasonable. That can make a big difference in keeping an HWA thread page readable. e.g. it can take a 100+ character URL and shrink it to ~15-20 characters or so
Unfortunately, as currently implemented HWA stretches the width of the page to make it fit to the entire length of the longest URL anywhere on the page. That means that with long URLs, the reader has to move the web-page back-and-forth sideways in order to read the thread.
A number of folks on HWA do not seem to like that. (I'm one of them, especially because of my vision problems). Hence the incentive to use a tool like "tinyurl".
A Possible Fix
I'd prefer that HWA would simply set a fixed maximum width for all referenced URLs and when a URL exceeds that length, wrap the URL around to the next line(s). This would totally obviate the need to use third-party "tinyurl" websites.
2-Reasons why "tinyurl" should not be used
Here are two primary reasons why I think shortening URLs and relying on third-party "tinyurl" websites is a bad thing to do.
1) By relying on any external company's website to maintain the database of actual URLs this puts HWA at risk of losing the content of all those shortened links.
A given "tinyurl" website might disappear, change its name, or the website host for that company might go out of business, etc. If that happens then all of its shortened URLs placed in HWA pages for all time will refer to meaningless locations, and all ability to view those referenced URLs will be gone... HWA is at the mercy of potentially unreliable external services.
That will render many HWA posts useless and/or meaningless, and anyone reading those posts will not be able to link to those referenced websites. A lot of valuable help posted to HWA would literally "vanish" overnight.
2) Many folks don't use the "preview" option of "tinyurl". This means that when you click on the shortened URL, you have no idea where that URL will take you*. It could be a malicious or SPAM website posted by a "New User". It could take you to a porn website.
The same thing could happen if the "tinyurl" website is compromised by hackers. They could alter any and all shortened URLs to point to those same "bad" webpages instead of the correct webpage. It wouldn't need a user on HWA to create the malicious link, and HWA could do nothing about it except to disable all shortened links with major consequences.
Without knowing where the link will take you, you are putting your computer and data (and eyes![:)]( ":)")
) at risk.
edit-add comment on hackers being able to compromise all the shortened links at the "tinyurl" website.
Should tinyurl.com and similar third-party web-tools be used here at HWA? (from now on in this post, "tinyurl" will be used to represent any and all such companies/websites)
The reason I ask is that I do have at least three concerns about relying on and using a third-party "tinyurl" company to shorten the length of URLs in HWA threads. The two most significant concerns are covered here.
Why "tinyurl" is used
"Tinyurl" takes a loooong URL and shrinks it to a short link that helps keep the width of HWA posts reasonable. That can make a big difference in keeping an HWA thread page readable. e.g. it can take a 100+ character URL and shrink it to ~15-20 characters or so
Unfortunately, as currently implemented HWA stretches the width of the page to make it fit to the entire length of the longest URL anywhere on the page. That means that with long URLs, the reader has to move the web-page back-and-forth sideways in order to read the thread.
A number of folks on HWA do not seem to like that. (I'm one of them, especially because of my vision problems). Hence the incentive to use a tool like "tinyurl".
A Possible Fix
I'd prefer that HWA would simply set a fixed maximum width for all referenced URLs and when a URL exceeds that length, wrap the URL around to the next line(s). This would totally obviate the need to use third-party "tinyurl" websites.
2-Reasons why "tinyurl" should not be used
Here are two primary reasons why I think shortening URLs and relying on third-party "tinyurl" websites is a bad thing to do.
1) By relying on any external company's website to maintain the database of actual URLs this puts HWA at risk of losing the content of all those shortened links.
A given "tinyurl" website might disappear, change its name, or the website host for that company might go out of business, etc. If that happens then all of its shortened URLs placed in HWA pages for all time will refer to meaningless locations, and all ability to view those referenced URLs will be gone... HWA is at the mercy of potentially unreliable external services.
That will render many HWA posts useless and/or meaningless, and anyone reading those posts will not be able to link to those referenced websites. A lot of valuable help posted to HWA would literally "vanish" overnight.
2) Many folks don't use the "preview" option of "tinyurl". This means that when you click on the shortened URL, you have no idea where that URL will take you*. It could be a malicious or SPAM website posted by a "New User". It could take you to a porn website.
The same thing could happen if the "tinyurl" website is compromised by hackers. They could alter any and all shortened URLs to point to those same "bad" webpages instead of the correct webpage. It wouldn't need a user on HWA to create the malicious link, and HWA could do nothing about it except to disable all shortened links with major consequences.
Without knowing where the link will take you, you are putting your computer and data (and eyes
) at risk.*Note: in some of these URL shortening websites, you can manually add a prefix to the URL to force the website to show you a preview...even if the user didn't use that option when posting the shortened URL to HWA. However, that's not true for every one of these URL shortening service providers. For example, with a tinyurl.com shortened URL, you can (at this point in time) take the extra step and manually change the given URL, and add the string "preview." to the address and you will see the actual URL it will take you to (e.g. you manually edit http://tinyurl.com/6qmfef to http://preview.tinyurl.com/6qmfef). However, as already said, not all "tinyurl" websites will let you do that. In addition, a given "tinyurl" simply might decide to quit offering the "preview" service without warning at any time. In such cases you will once again have to link blind to the destination website.
edit-add comment on hackers being able to compromise all the shortened links at the "tinyurl" website.