RubyURL.com - Shorten Long URLs

RubyURL is a useful little web app which lets you shorten annoyingly long URLs into more manageable ones. Using the application couldn't be easier; simply plug in the overly-long URL of a given site, and click "Go!".

RubyURL then produces a shorter url which will link back to the desired website (in the format http://rubyurl.com/, followed by a short letter and number code). You can add the application to your browser's toolbar for quick access. The best part about the site? If you make a mistake and type a link incorrectly, it will give you an error message a la Lolcatz (if you haven't heard of this site yet, you should check it out in the name of completely unnecessary humor).

It would be great if the site could offer a URL that preserved some of the orginal site's URL information; turning out shorter URLs in the current format makes it harder to differentiate between sites, and an outside party who isn't familiar with the application may not understand why you are seemingly linking them to what appears to be a random site; is there any way that RubyURL could generate shorter URLs that contain some of the original site's URL text?

RubyURL could definitely come in handy anytime you need to enter in a long URL into a disproportionately short field or cut and paste a link in a text document or IM window. It really couldn't be easier or quicker to use.

"In a nutshell, RubyURL is an online tool for converting really long website addresses into short ones.
Beyond that, RubyURL was the first project that Robby Russell (robbyonrails) built and deployed with the Ruby on Rails framework in early 2005. It's been running strong since then and until recently, was still running off of that original code base.
During the summer of 2007, Robby teamed up with Chris Griffin, User Interface Designer at PLANET ARGON, for a complete rewrite and design of RubyURL.
The RubyURL team hopes that you find this tool useful in your mailing list posts, chat conversations, and twitter entries"

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