Is.gd is a service that shortens URLs such as web addresses. This is useful in many circumstances (see below) e.g. in email clients that break long URLs.
For example, you can turn
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode
=&q=louth&ie=UTF8&z=12&iwloc=addr&om=1
into : -
http://is.gd/1
Our goal is to allow shortening URLs to the maximum extent technically possible.
Uses for is.gd
Here are just a few of the many uses for is.gd's URL shortening service: -
- Shorten web addresses for emails, forum posts, blogs etc. which cannot handle long URLs and might wrap them, making them unclickable
- Lower the character count when texting web addresses to a mobile phone
- Hide the real URLs of affiliate links from visitors to your site
- Obscure your real email address from bots which harvest them to spam (enter an address like mailto:myaddress@myisp.com). Note that this feature does appear to be browser dependant so such links may not work in every browser
- Circumvent protections on sites which don't allow direct links to a competitor's site (if you are violating a site's terms you do so at your own risk)
- Clean up bookmarks for social bookmarking sites or sites with low character limits like Twitter