Integrated adaptive URL-shortening functionality
To provide a shortened version of a link that conveys useful information about the link's associated content, embodiments of the invention generate a shortened version of the link that comprises meaningful information about the original link. For example, in some embodiments such information includes portions of the link itself, such as domain and/or path components of the link's address text, content to which the link points, such as the text of a web page or other document referenced by the link's address text, or a rating of the content to which the link points. Thus, rather than generating an essentially random link, embodiments of the invention adaptively generate the shortened link to take into account the information about the link. Consequently, a user viewing the adaptively-generated shortened link can determine useful information about the content to which the shortened link leads based on the text of the shortened link itself.
1. A computer-implemented method comprising:
receiving a request to create a message, the request including an original link, the original link comprising address text that points to a document;
receiving a selection of a service, the selected service having an associated maximum message character length of messages that can be transmitted via the selected service;
providing for display via a client device, a plurality of shortened link candidates for the original link, the shortened link candidates based on the maximum message character length of messages that can be transmitted via the selected service and on a number of characters currently in the message such that, for each of the shortened link candidates, the number of characters currently in the message and a number of characters in a corresponding one of the shortened link candidates together do not exceed the maximum message character length;
receiving, from the client device, a designation of one of the plurality of shortened link candidates; and
registering the designated shortened link candidate with a remote link-shortening server, responsive to the received selection of the shortened link candidate.
2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , the actions further comprising:
providing for display via a user interface:
content associated with the original link, and
a user interface element for sharing the content;
wherein receiving the request to create the message comprises a user triggering the user interface element for sharing the content and selecting the service used to send the message.
3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the request and the selection are received via a user interface of a web browser, and wherein the candidates are displayed within the user interface of the web browser.
4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein registering the designated shortened link candidate with the link-shortening service comprises registering an association between the original link and the designated shortened link candidate.
5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving a set of ratings for content of the document from a plurality of users; and
determining a rating of the content of the document based at least in part on the set of ratings;
wherein at least one of the plurality of shortened link candidates comprises a text string containing the rating.
6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5 , wherein the rating of the content of the document represents a degree of offensiveness of the content and is generated by a site that generated the content.
7. The computer-implemented method of claim 5 , wherein the rating of the content of the document represents a degree of quality of the content based on ratings of the content generated by a community of users.
8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:
deriving a keyword from content of the document;
wherein at least one of the plurality of shortened link candidates comprises a text string that includes the derived keyword within the text string.
9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the selected service is email, text, or a microblogging service.
10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the number of characters currently in the message is a number of characters in a text entry area of an interface associated with the selected service.
11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
embedding the selected shortened link candidate in the message; and
sending the message via the selected service.
12. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having executable computer program instructions embodied therein, the instructions comprising:
instructions for receiving a request to create a message, the request including an original link, the original link comprising address text that points to a document;
instructions for receiving a selection of a service, the selected service having an associated maximum message character length of messages that can be transmitted via the selected service;
instructions for providing for display via a client device, a plurality of shortened link candidates for the original link, the shortened link candidates based on the maximum message character length of messages that can be transmitted via the selected service and on a number of characters currently in the messages such that, for each of the shortened link candidates, the number of characters currently in the message and a number of characters in a corresponding one of the shortened link candidates together do not exceed the maximum message character length;
instructions for receiving, from the client device, a designation of one of the plurality of shortened link candidates; and
instructions for registering the designated shortened link candidate with a remote link-shortening server, responsive to the received selection of the shortened link candidate.
13. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising:
instructions for receiving, from a client device, an original link and a request to generate a shortened link for the original link;
instructions for generating a plurality of shortened link candidates for the original link based on a current length of a message in which a designated one of the shortened link candidates will be embedded and on a maximum message character length of messages that can be transmitted via a service such that, for each of the shortened link candidates, the current length of the message and a number of characters in a corresponding one of the shortened link candidates together do not exceed the maximum message character length;
instructions for receiving, from the client device, a designation of one of the plurality of shortened link candidates; and
instructions for registering the designated shortened link candidate as a shortened link corresponding to the original link.
14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 , further comprising instructions for re-generating the plurality of shortened link candidates responsive to a user changing the current length of the message by altering text of the message.
15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein registering the selected candidate with the URL-shortening service comprises registering an association between the original link and the designated shortened link candidate.
16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 , further comprising instructions for preventing, before the designation of one of the plurality of candidates is received, registration of any of the plurality of shortened link candidates in association with a link other than the original link.
17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16 , wherein the preventing comprises registering all of the candidates.
18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16 , wherein the preventing comprises:
reserving the shortened link candidates; and
responsive to the registering of the designated shortened link candidate, requesting release of non-selected ones of the plurality of shortened link candidates.
19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16 , wherein the preventing comprises reserving the candidates with the remote link-shortening server for a predetermined amount of time.
20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 , further comprising instructions for:
deriving a keyword from content pointed to by the original link;
wherein at least one of the plurality of shortened link candidates comprises text that includes the derived keyword.
21. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 , further comprising:
instructions for receiving from a plurality of users a set of ratings for content pointed to by the original link; and
determining a rating of the content of the document based at least in part on the set of ratings;
wherein at least one of the plurality of shortened link candidates comprises a text string containing the rating.
22. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 21 , wherein the rating of the content of the document represents a degree of offensiveness of the content and is generated by a site that generated the content.
23. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 21 , wherein the rating of the content of the document represents a degree of quality of the content based on ratings of the content generated by a community of users.
24. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein at least one of the shortened link candidates comprises at least one of text of the original link or content pointed to by the original link.