Hi ProductHunt!
I'm excited to be back with another productivity extension! This one is a big daily driver for me and really cuts down on having to remember/type long links. This one was inspired by my overflowing bookmark bar and hesitation to reach for my mouse. If you're a software person, this is like bash aliases for your URL bar.
My workflow for opening new sites now is Cmd+L (focus URL bar), m/[shortlink], enter. (Look ma! No mouse!)
These shortlinks only exist on your local instance of Chrome (and is sync'd with your Google account), so this isn't like bit.ly where you can share these links with everyone. *BUT* that means you have a namespace all for yourself! For me, I personally shortlink reference pages, dashboards (m/dash => Google Analytics Dashboard), facebook groups I manage, gdrive folders (m/projects => gdrive projects folder), and memes (m/thisisfine => thisisfine.jpg, it's perfect!).
Adding shortlinks is as easy as hitting Alt+D (on Mac/Linux) or Ctrl + Shift + S (on Win). If you need any help or a tutorial, you can always count on m/help.
Any lingering questions? Feel free to ask away! I hope you find this as useful as I do! 💙
@idered Odd, it should be autofocused in the popup. You're referring to the input box where you can type the shortlink name you want to add correct? I'm not sure what would be preventing it from happening... are you a windows or linux user by any chance? Also have you tried checking it out on another tab? Worst case could restart Chrome but I'm not sure if that would help :(
@idered Updated just pushed out! Should be rolling out in a couple hours. Let me know if you still have trouble :D Thanks again for the bug report! (Also free limit was bumped up to 30 shortlinks 😋 )
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Hi Mike,
Sounds great and super useful potentially... but any plans to take this beyond Google Chrome which is a browser that is getting worse not better?
@exlemor Yes! I wanted to make sure there's enough traction, but there are definitely plans to move this onto other browsers as well (xplatform support is definitely a must!). Out of curiosity, where would you like to see Shortlink be next?
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@mikeshi42 Firefox please! What a great system. I use SlickRun to accomplish this on my desktop but having an extension to simplify my bookmarks is genius!
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@mikeshi42 I was going to say Firefox... I was truly hoping that it would be Browser independent and more a Mac/Windows App to be honest... then no separate browser support or needing to update every 5 minutes when browsers update/block you somehow.. [but I know that's asking a lot]...
Also synching with Google is nice but I use Google as little as possible and use more standard cloud backup/tools so the ability to have this 'data' stored in a .json or .xml or whatever format makes you happy ;) that we could place in a pCloud, Dropbox, iCloud, Box folder and then it would automatically make it across to wherever...
I realize this might be a separate/different product, but you DID ask ? ;) lol
@exlemor@tsudo Yup firefox is a popular request, will def be prioritized. As for general mac/windows app. I definitely thought a lot about it before going down the Chrome path. That's ideal in the future, but as of right now, browser extensions have lower barrier to entry for users but I do hope to have a more "universal" solution in the future.
As for cloud sync, I indeed want to move off of Google's as well (they delete the sync'd data if you delete the extension which is _super_ annoying) most likely will be rolling my own. I can imagine exporting them to some type of format for local backups could be an option too further down the line (not sure the popularity of such a request 😛) Using sync from another cloud provider would be a more difficult problem (I'm a stranger to these cloud storage APIs and I can imagine integration could be a pain).
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@mikeshi42 - "Using sync from another cloud provider would be a more difficult problem (I'm a stranger to these cloud storage APIs and I can imagine integration could be a pain" which is why I said, export to .json/.xml/.etc and let us pick where we can place said file.. that way, any of the cloud solutions work out of the box: pCloud, Dropbox, iCloud, Box, Mega, Mozy, Yandex, iDriveSync etc... that means no dealing with .APIs and that should be a nice feeling ;)
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@mikeshi42 excellent work!
Generally, it's not very convenient to browse through the bookmarked folders. ShortLink will make my life easy. A couple of features, that would be nice to bake into the app -
1. An easy multi-device sync
2. Custom configurable roots. Like, I can have a root path w/ for work related URL and h/ for hobbies
@souravray multi device sync should work if you're signed in to the same Google account on your laptops (non mobile). I'll be looking forward to implement Shortlink specific syncing though! Also for now you can also create "subpaths" like m/h/.. Etc as well! Thanks for the feedback! Def want to get these suggestions in for the future.
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@mikeshi42 thanks for the reply.
The subpath hack works fine for me, but using chrome's default data sync is a bit complicated as I use two different accounts for different environments. One more feature I may be using extensively (not sure whether other users will agree with ), is "disposable links: set an auto-expire for links and URL will automatically get removed after expiry"
@souravray Yeah I know the problem you face in (previously it was corporate google account vs personal google account for me). In the future looking to have sync based on Shortlink accounts and its own sync platform (which will be super exciting!).
Do you have an example for the use case of temporary shortlinks? I can imagine it'll help decrease clutter, but I'm not super aware of when shortlinks would be created that would be come irrelevant quickly (I guess with time-limited projects like hackathons or events or whatnot).
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@mikeshi42 sometimes I need to keep URLs bookmarked for a certain period. For example, when I'm learning a new language or doing some research, I need to bookmark few references for going back 'n forth. After a period I do not require to refer those links anymore. For me, it's a huge energy barrier to revisit my bookmarks and cleanup manually.
@souravray Hrmm thinking if there's a way to design an interface that will help clean up unused bookmarks with automation. (Shortlink that haven't been used after a while become "archived" or go under a "cleanup suggestions" panel?)
Hesitation for delay date here is that adding a expiration date I imagine could be difficult (when am I _really_ going to be done with this shortlink?) and putting it as a streamlined option in the shortlink creation UI might be difficult. I can definitely see the use case and pain point here though! Thanks for the suggestion :D
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Interesting, but I think I'm missing something here...where does this make more sense than simply using a text expansion service/app?
That would work across platforms and across apps, isn't limited to URLs, and doesn't have to follow a prescribed format.
@mostlymarius I'm not familiar with which text expansion app you're referencing, but shortlink allows you to create a link directly from the page (alt+D) and type in the shortlink you want to link to. I'd imagine that a text expansion app will require you to both type in the alias and also paste in the URL into its interface. Not to mention these aliases will only trigger on the URL bar (so no accidental triggering, though that could either be a plus or minus depending on your use cases). That's definitely an interesting use case I can try folding in further down the product path :)
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This extension is absolutely wonderful! Ever since using a similar system while working at Twitter I've wanted to gain the same ability for personal use at home. Finally, I am now able to use short links on my home network!!! Thank you so much for creating this wonderful tool.
@magnuson That's awesome! I'm glad you've find the cure to your pain :D Let me know if you have any cool use cases or feature suggestions that you think would be great! (Or any pain points you experienced with other alternatives c: )
@16jsdev Haha I know! The idea initially is that I wanted to create a experience that was universal across browsers. However, I've now realized that there's a serious lack of power in redirects and a lot more power using omnibox. (Richer search and everything). It's def on the roadmap in the future, but I'm glad you enjoy it as it is!
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@mikeshi42 Awesome, I was thinking that's how it was done, but I guessed wrong, happy to know it's on the roadmap. Thanks!!
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Clever! A simple idea but well executed. Easy to remember, and a lot easier than browsing folders of bookmarks.
@cm0nt0y4 Thanks! I'm glad you found it well done :) I know a lot of alternatives exist for similar functionality but I wanted to put out a product that makes it easily accessible to everyone and have the lowest barrier to making shortlinks and accessing shortlinks. Let me know if you have any feedback or cool use cases you'd like to share!
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