Internetworkers: http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/

["Michael D. Thomas" <mdthomas AT mindspring.com>]

> on Mon, Apr 22, 2002 at 10:24:29PM -0400, Michael Czeiszperger wrote:
> > (I wonder how to get email programs not to word-wrap URLs?)
>
>  http://makeashorterlink.com

Clever, but doesn't look to be the optimal solution. By using all characters
allowed in URLs the link-shortening server can use Base-72 to describe the
link key.

I actually looked at this problem in developing a wireless architecture in
2000. SMS messages, the popular push model that the Scandanavians love, have
some severe message size limitations. I think the tightest one is 256
characters. (Not K, Not M, characters.) In spite of this, some SMS-enabled
phones will act like modern email clients and hyperlink a URL that can then be
invoked by a WAP browser. The trick is to keep the URLs small so that 1) you
don't crash the more primitive phones and 2) you have more characters for
other stuff.

So, once again a push model (SMS/email) isn't well integrated with a pull
model (http/WAP) at it's roots, even though the synergies are obvious.

Oh, one other optimization that I found. You can get an arbritrary URL (with
FQ domain names longer than 8-10 characters) shorter by expressing the IP as a
base-10 number. (Obviously, you loose the benefits of DNS.) Here's ibiblio:

http://2550321745/

(IE doesn't like it, Netscape does. For WAP, it only matters if the WAP
gateways like it.)