Posting links to ebay & other long URLs

[The Robman]

You may have noticed that sometimes the width of posts in these forums extends beyond the edge of the screen, so you have to scroll to the right to read all of the post. This is often caused by people posting really long URLs in their posts.

If the URL in question is to an ebay item, there's an easy fix for this. Let's say you've performed a search for an item and the URL for item itself is something like this...

Code: Select all

http://cgi.ebay.com/Atlas-1056-DVR-PVR-5-Device-Universal-
Remote-Control-/380171086859?cmd=ViewItem&
pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5883f66c0b

(the line breaks are mine, to prevent this post from being too wide)

To get a small URL for this, all you have to do is cut & paste the item number after the domain name. So, for example, the item number in this case is 380171086859 so the new url would be http://cgi.ebay.com/380171086859

If the URL is not for an ebay item, so you're stuck with the long URL, you can always cloak it using BBCode. Using that long ebay URL from the beginning of this post as an example, you would put in front of it and ]name of site behind it, like this...

a short name for the site

Here's a working example using that long ebay URL...

ebay item #380171086859

[spinquick]

I am trying to make this work, but must be missing something as my previews do not show the short name. Can you spot the problem?

item 320151389005

[/u][/list]

[johnsfine]

I think the problem is the space after url=

[vickyg2003]

You are missing this bracket
][/color] a short name for the site

[spinquick]

Tried without the space, but did not work. The bracket is there just before the word 'item' . Still don't get it.


ebay item # 320151389005

[spinquick]

OK - it works now! Thanks again

[The Robman]

Just FYI, the ebay URL that you used it longer than it needs to be.

Here's your URL:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :IT&ih=011

And here's the basic URL:
http://cgi.ebay.com/320151389005

If you ever send an ebay link via email (which I do alot) it's always better to use short URLs as they are less likely to wrap around.

[jrussell234]

An alternative to long URLs is to use a free function called TinyURL. You can find it at http://TinyURL.com.

Check it out. I and millions others use it to solve long url copy/paste problems. I am sure you all have seen a reference to a url called tiny..

[The Robman]

True, but it's a lot quicker to just use BBCode to make a text link in the forum.