Shorter

Posted 2 Jan 2017 by JC

Here’s a sweet little improvement to the affiliate program that debuted last August: you can now shorten the affiliate links you create.

Simply click the “Shorten” button, and a long link like https://stitch-maps.com/about/abbreviations/?aid=jcbriar&atag=news becomes a short link like https://stitch-maps.com/to/Wrp/. Both lead to the same page, of course. (Go ahead, try them!) It’s just that the shorter one is, well, shorter.

For either link, clicking the “Test” button opens the link in a new browser tab. Clicking the “Select and copy to clipboard” button selects the text of the link and – if your browser is willing – copies that text to your system’s clipboard. (If your browser isn’t willing, you can always copy it to the clipboard yourself.) You can then paste the link into your patterns, or social media posts, or whatever.

Why create short links? You can probably think of reasons of your own. But for me, it’s because I’ve been toying with QR codes lately. Imagine, for example, printed class handouts with QR codes that students can scan to get to specific pages at Stitch-Maps.com. And the way to get smaller, more reliable QR codes is to start with shorter links. Sure, it’d be possible to shorten links at bit.ly or goo.gl, but I don’t care for their privacy policies. At Stitch-Maps.com, you can rest assured that your short links will remain private.

Questions? Suggestions? Let me know!