shorten-da-thing

*short note from me:- started this project becasuse everytime I wanted to shorten a massive url to a short thing (hence the name) that can be read easily, there were only 1-2 websites online that achieved this but thought of making it myself. I've also made a few changes in the original idea of the projects as follows:- 1. added a geolocation tracker, that tracks your location based on the url that you paste on the website 2. can identify your ip-address 3. can identify which device you are using and on which web-browser 4. what time you accessed the website just a few things I wanted to test out along with the original idea (note:- this is in no way used for malicious purposes, just a weekend project for fun)

shorten-da-thing is a client-powered URL shortener built with HTML, CSS, and vanilla JavaScript. It runs entirely in the browser and requires no server-side database. It features two modes of operation:

1. Portable Mode (Zero-Database): Encodes and compresses URLs directly into the URL hash, making the shortened link completely portable and self-contained. Anyone who clicks the link will be automatically redirected by the client code without needing a database lookup.
2. Local Database Mode: Allows creating custom, readable aliases for your links. The mapping is stored locally in your browser's localStorage and keeps track of click analytics.

Features

• Two Shortening Modes: Choose between database-free portable links or readable local aliases.
• Click Analytics & History: Track how many times your local short links have been clicked. Search, filter, or delete history entries.
• Built-in QR Code Generator: Generate and download QR codes for your shortened links instantly.
• Deploy Ready: Fully compatible with static hosting options like GitHub Pages, Vercel, Netlify, or self-hosting.

How to Run Locally

Since shorten-da-thing is built entirely as a static client-side web application, you do not need to install any heavy dependencies (like Node.js, Python, etc.) to run it.

Option 1: Open directly in the Browser

Simply double-click the index.html file on your computer to open it in Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Edge.

Option 2: Run a Local Server (Recommended for development)

To run a local server, you can use any static server utility. For example, if you have Node.js installed, run:

npx serve .

Or, if you use VS Code, you can use the Live Server extension.

Deployment to GitHub Pages

shorten-da-thing is designed to be hosted for free on GitHub Pages!

1. Create a repository on your GitHub account (e.g., url-shortener).
2. Push this code to the repository:

   git init
   git add .
   git commit -m "Initial commit of shorten-da-thing URL Shortener"
   git branch -M main
   git remote add origin https://github.com/<your-username>/<your-repo-name>.git
   git push -u origin main

3. Go to the repository settings on GitHub, select Pages from the sidebar, and under Build and deployment, set the source to deploy from the main branch.
4. Your URL shortener will be live at https://<your-username>.github.io/<your-repo-name>/!