Show HN: I created a URL shortener that can be entirely hosted on GitHub Pages
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Re: Show HN: I created a URL shortener that can be entirely hosted on GitHub Pages
#2I was always fixated with URL shorteners and always wanted to write one myself. While it would be easy to write one that works with a server, I loved the idea of hosting and running one for free.
Thus, I wrote this URL shortener which does not need a backend to work at all. It uses GitHub issues as a "database", and unlike most other URL shorteners that do not need backends, this one doesn't need a # prefixed to the alias. (i.e. short URLs look clean like this: nlsn.cf/1 instead of looking like this: nlsn.cf/#1)
I haven't had the time to work on it more but do let me know what you guys think! Thank you and hope yall enjoy it!
Re: Show HN: I created a URL shortener that can be entirely hosted on GitHub Pages
#3This is brilliant! Especially to distribute branded shortened URLs of the kind {mydomain}/{id} without having to maintain pretty much anything and giving the end user a chance to verify what the URL actually leads to. Thank you!
Re: Show HN: I created a URL shortener that can be entirely hosted on GitHub Pages
#4I was always fixated with URL shorteners and always wanted to write one myself. While it would be easy to write one that works with a server, I loved the idea of hosting and running one for free. Thus, I wrote this URL shortener which does not need a backend to work at all. It uses GitHub issues as a "database", and unlike most other URL shorteners that do not need backends, this one doesn't need a # prefixed to the…
Looks nice and simple! Bit strange to claim "there is no database" and then add "GitHub issues is the database", maybe add "there is no traditional RDMS/document database needed" or something similar.
You might want to detect infinite loops as well :) https://nlsn.cf/6
Last note, the status code seems to be incorrectly set to 404 instead of any of the redirection status code. If you're hosting it on GitHub pages, I'm not sure you can actually control it. If the status code was correctly set + the Location header, I think all browsers would be able to detect the infinite loop automatically and prevent it.
Re: Show HN: I created a URL shortener that can be entirely hosted on GitHub Pages
#5I was always fixated with URL shorteners and always wanted to write one myself. While it would be easy to write one that works with a server, I loved the idea of hosting and running one for free. Thus, I wrote this URL shortener which does not need a backend to work at all. It uses GitHub issues as a "database", and unlike most other URL shorteners that do not need backends, this one doesn't need a # prefixed to the…
That’s clever! I once did the same, except I used a static site generator that I would push to Github and deploy on Netlify.
Re: Show HN: I created a URL shortener that can be entirely hosted on GitHub Pages
#6It's so cool. I am using https://git.io as url shortener, and now this project makes me reconsider.
What if some of shortener domain so popular that Github takes some action? Like block or ban?
Re: Show HN: I created a URL shortener that can be entirely hosted on GitHub Pages
#7Very crafty project, I wonder if there is an awesome-github-pages repo where we could index these GitHub pages projects.
Re: Show HN: I created a URL shortener that can be entirely hosted on GitHub Pages
#8You could also push static HTML pages to the git root which have, e.g.,
https://news.ycombinator.com/'" />
in the header.
Re: Show HN: I created a URL shortener that can be entirely hosted on GitHub Pages
#9Interesting. This could be considered as abuse of github issues though.
Re: Show HN: I created a URL shortener that can be entirely hosted on GitHub Pages
#10I was always fixated with URL shorteners and always wanted to write one myself. While it would be easy to write one that works with a server, I loved the idea of hosting and running one for free. Thus, I wrote this URL shortener which does not need a backend to work at all. It uses GitHub issues as a "database", and unlike most other URL shorteners that do not need backends, this one doesn't need a # prefixed to the…
Looks nice and simple! Bit strange to claim "there is no database" and then add "GitHub issues is the database", maybe add "there is no traditional RDMS/document database needed" or something similar. You might want to detect infinite loops as well :) https://nlsn.cf/6 Last note, the status code seems to be incorrectly set to 404 instead of any of the redirection status code. If you're hosting it on GitHub pages, I'm…
If you use it personally and you know what you are doing, I think this idea is good. For example I have my own domain and when I share long link to friends, I can use it.
By the way, your feedback is good for author improves. Thank you.