How to "SHORTEN" Those Looong URL Site Addresses

General Announcements, plus answers to questions like: Why can't I register? Why is my name banned? How do I post pictures?
Post Reply
User avatar
Willie T
Posts: 179
Joined: Wed Dec 31, 1969 7:00 pm
Location: St. Petersburg Minds of moderate caliber ordinarily condemn everything which is beyond their range.

How to "SHORTEN" Those Looong URL Site Addresses

Post by Willie T »

I have noticed several long, long URL site addresses posted from time to time.
Some people have expressed a desire to know how to shorten them.

I felt this subject might be worth having a Topic Heading all its own here on The Paddle-Fishing Forum.

Here it is:... In just a few easy steps, you can create a personalized, shortened URL locator, all right from your keyboard. (The website, "Tiny URL" is nice, but this method is easier and quicker... AND the text can say whatever you want it to say.)

(Ignore all quotation marks, they are shown here for clarification purposes only. DO NOT TYPE THEM.) One more thing... LEAVE NO SPACES IN YOUR TYPING... it will mess things up, and your URL locator will not work.

After "COPYING" your intended URL, (You will soon be "PASTING" it into Step 3), proceed with the following:

Step 1: Begin with a left bracket "[" (It's found just to the right of the "P" on your keyboard... "lower case")
LOOKS LIKE: [

Step 2: Type in the letters, "URL="
LOOKS LIKE:

Step 3: Paste in your URL (In this case, I'm using "HTTP:// MySiteAddress.com".)
LOOKS LIKE: [URL=HTTP://MySiteAddress.com

Step 4: Type a right bracket "]"
LOOKS LIKE: [URL=HTTP://MySiteAddress.com ]
(No SPACES!)

Step 5: Type in your descriptive TEXT (In this case, I'm using "CLICK HERE".)
LOOKS LIKE: [URL=HTTP://MySiteAddress.com ]CLICK HERE
(No SPACES!)

Step 6: End it all with this: [/URL ]
(No SPACES!)

The final product will look like this when you type it:
[ URL=HTTP://MySiteAddress.com]CLICK HERE[/URL ]

The only difference will be that you will LEAVE NO SPACES IN YOUR VERSION other than those you may have used in your "Descriptive TEXT" (spaces are OK in that one area only).

I had to put some spaces at the ends so the examples here would show up "as typed" when posted. You won't do that.

(And, of course, whatever URL you "PASTED" into Step 3 will take the place of the one I used... "MySiteAddress.com".)

By the way, your URL can be as long as it needs to be... even three or four lines, doesn't matter. All that will be seen in your post is the "Descriptive TEXT" you typed... and that can be almost any combination of letters, numbers, spaces, puncuation marks, &/or characters you choose.

After you post your message, all anyone will see is this:[url=HTTP://MySiteAddress.com]CLICK HERE
, or whatever "TEXT" you happened to use instead. ("Go ahead... Click on this one... it's a cute site.")

(This particular URL, "MySiteAddress.com", takes you to a bulldog puppy site... Not intentional, it just worked out that way :lol: .)

Please don't be afraid to give this a try. After using this method a couple of times, you'll probably never again choose to simply drop a long, complicated URL into one of your posts.

Like my Ol' 1st. Sgt. used to tell us in Boot Camp: "It only costs a nickel more to go First Class!"
Willie T
St. Petersburg
[email protected]

"True eloquence consists in saying all that is necessary, and only that which is."
François Duc de La Rochefoucauld
Post Reply