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    #2
    WizZard
    Registered Users Posts: 6,762 ✭✭✭WizZard


    Would you be happy with an external service (e.g. short.ie) as that would be relatively easy to add with a vB plugin (I think)?


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    #3
    feylya
    Moderators, Music Moderators Posts: 23,361 Mod ✭✭✭✭feylya


    As long as it's the Boards.ie domain, I don't mind. Reason for the request is it's easier to tweet the address, easier to copy and paste on a phone and because it has the boards.ie domain, you know it's a Boards post.


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    #4
    WizZard
    Registered Users Posts: 6,762 ✭✭✭WizZard


    Ah ok. Then it's (a bit) harder.


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    #5
    IRLConor
    Subscribers Posts: 4,076 ✭✭✭IRLConor


    How about:

    "http://" linkType ".boards.ie/" id

    where:

    linkType is "t" for a thread link and "p" for a post link
    and
    id is the base 36 encoded version of the thread or post ID.

    For example, this thread would be http://t.boards.ie/xztas0 and the first post would be http://p.boards.ie/zlvjo.

    It's simple and it's cheap to create the URLs since there's no need to hit a database or do complex calculations.

    Anyone have a better idea?


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    #6
    BertrandMeyer
    Closed Accounts Posts: 124 ✭✭BertrandMeyer


    The only reason boards.ie would need such a service is because it has terrible URLs to begin with.

    The URL for this thread:
    http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055537360

    could very easily be changed to something like:
    http://boards.ie/t2055537360


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    #7
    Ron DMC
    Registered Users Posts: 5,297 ✭✭✭Ron DMC


    BertrandMeyer wrote: »
    The only reason boards.ie would need such a service is because it has terrible URLs to begin with.

    The URL for this thread:
    http://m.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055537360

    could very easily be changed to something like:
    http://m.boards.ie/t2055537360

    That's the nature of vbulletin and how it's structured.
    But yeah, the shorter urls would be well handier. Whether to go with http://t.boards.ie/hfdkgd or http://boards.ie/t?=hfdkgd


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    #8
    BertrandMeyer
    Closed Accounts Posts: 124 ✭✭BertrandMeyer


    You changed boards.ie to m.boards.ie in that quote. That isn't necessary.
    (Edit: Disregard that; m.boards.ie probably changed those links automatically. Whoops.)

    Something like http://boards.ie/t2055537360 could be done with a few simple .htaccess rules. New URLs like this would not require any extra database lookups, and the current URLs like /vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055537360 would still work.


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    #9
    Ron DMC
    Registered Users Posts: 5,297 ✭✭✭Ron DMC


    BertrandMeyer wrote: »
    Something like http://m.boards.ie/t2055537360 could be done with a few simple .htaccess rules. New URLs like this would not require any extra database lookups, and the current URLs like /vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055537360 would still work.

    Sounds like a perfect solution then, let's hope Ross can find some time at some point in the future to implement it.

    I'd still like to see some personalisation to the shortened urls if possible. e.g. http://www.boards.ie/shorturls for this thread maybe.


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    #10
    IRLConor
    Subscribers Posts: 4,076 ✭✭✭IRLConor


    BertrandMeyer wrote: »
    Something like http://boards.ie/t2055537360 could be done with a few simple .htaccess rules. New URLs like this would not require any extra database lookups, and the current URLs like /vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055537360 would still work.

    That's pretty much the process I was thinking of. The only reason for the base36 encoding of the id was to make it a bit shorter.


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    #11
    IRLConor
    Subscribers Posts: 4,076 ✭✭✭IRLConor


    Ronny Mitchell wrote: »
    I'd still like to see some personalisation to the shortened urls if possible. e.g. http://www.boards.ie/shorturls for this thread maybe.

    Personalised shortened URLs would be nice. The downside to that is that there would need to be some lookup against a persistent store of shortcodes which would increase the implementation costs.


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    #12
    BertrandMeyer
    Closed Accounts Posts: 124 ✭✭BertrandMeyer


    IRLConor wrote: »
    That's pretty much the process I was thinking of. The only reason for the base36 encoding of the id was to make it a bit shorter.

    Encoding the id is a good idea. Base64 might work even better.


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    #13
    IRLConor
    Subscribers Posts: 4,076 ✭✭✭IRLConor


    BertrandMeyer wrote: »
    Encoding the id is a good idea. Base64 might work even better.

    It would. Probably modified Base64 though, since + and / are valid in Base64 but are special in URLs.

    I only picked base 36 since that's the highest that the base_convert PHP function will go to and I was trying to figure the lowest-friction method of getting this feature into vBulletin.


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    #14
    BertrandMeyer
    Closed Accounts Posts: 124 ✭✭BertrandMeyer


    IRLConor wrote: »
    It would. Probably modified Base64 though, since + and / are valid in Base64 but are special in URLs.

    I only picked base 36 since that's the highest that the base_convert PHP function will go to and I was trying to figure the lowest-friction method of getting this feature into vBulletin.

    There are URL-friendly base 64 algorithms out there, but you've got a point about low friction changes. Base 36 may be better after all.


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