How to Condense Links

When text space is precious, use a URL shortener.

Online links act as our gateway to new websites and information. With some links taking up multiple lines of text space, these gateways can get long. That's where link condensing websites come in. These websites take your long link and condense it into something much more email- and sharing-friendly. The downside is these sites make it easy to mask what's on the other end of a link, offering no way for the link's receivers to know what is on the other side until they click.

Instructions

Bitly

1. Start your web browser and locate the link you want shortened. Highlight it, then press "Ctrl" and "C" simultaneously, copying your link.

2. Go to "bitly.com" and click inside the "Shorten Links Here" box. Press "Ctrl" and "V" on your keyboard to paste you long link.

3. Click the "Shorten" button. Highlight and copy the newly shortened link in the text box and use it to link to your original destination.

TinyURL

1. Highlight the link you want condensed and right-click it, selecting "Copy." Go to "TinyURL.com" and right-click within the "Enter a long URL to make tiny" box, selecting "Paste."

2. Click the "Custom alias" text box to enter your own shortened text, ideal for identifying the link. For example, if you're linking to a blog post, enter the title of the post or a condensed version of the title. Leaving the box blank tells TinyURL to create the link themselves with a random sequence of numbers and letters.

3. Click the "Make TinyURL!" button to condense your link. Highlight and copy the shortened URL.

V.gd

1. Navigate to the long link and highlight it, pressing "Ctrl" and "C" at the same time to copy it. Enter "v.gd" into your Web browser's address bar and press "Enter."

2. Right-click inside the text box and select "Paste." Click the small "Further options/custom URL" button under the text box if you want to customize the link.

3. Click the "Shorten!" button. Right-click the highlighted URL and copy it, then share the shorter link in place of the original.

Resources

• Bitly: Shorten, Share and Track Your Links
• TinyURL: Shorten That Long URL Into A Tiny URL
• V.gd: The Ethical URL Shortener