I’ve annoyed a few people over the years (well – one person at least) by pasting overlong URL’s in blogposts, and on WhatsApp. Ever since Google stopped supporting it’s own URL shortener I’d forgotten to go and look for an alternative to setup as an extension in my browsers (Safari, Chrome, Brave and Firefox) and more importantly to have as an app on my smartphone.
I’d used tiny.url for many years, but that generally meant you had to copy and paste the URL to a page you’d left open on the tiny.url page …
… and then once shortened you could copy the shortened URL to the email, WhatsApp, etc message.
But it would be much nicer if there was an extension which you could just click on from the page in question, and you’d get a shortened URL. That’s where bit.ly come in. It’s available both as an extension for Chrome, Brave and Firefox and as an app for iOS and Android.
To install bit.ly as an extension on Brave, go to Brave > Window > Extensions …
… click on Web Store …
… and type bitly, or bit.ly in the Search Box. Click on the bit.ly box and agree that you want to install it in Brave (or Chrome) …
… agree that you want to add the extension and then you will see it’s been added to your browser extensions …
It’s as straightforward as that. Now any time you want to shorten a URL, all you need to do is click on the bitly icon and (after creating a bit.ly account), the following dialogue box will come up …
… and you can then Copy the shortened URL that’s been created, wherever you want to.
I actually have the TinyURL extension on my Chrome browser, David. It’s even easier to use than the Bitly one, as when I click on it, it puts the short URL straight on the clipboard. I don’t have to copy and paste it.
Is this the unofficial one you mentioned before Jim; I tend to prefer to stick to “official” ones if I can, but as it works for you, I’m sure it’s OK. I’ll install it in Brave/Chrome and give it a whirl.
I think I was being over-cautious, David. I now don’t think there is an ‘official’ extension. The number of stars an extension gets should be some indication of its quality.