http://snipplr.com/users/Todd/tags/url Recent snippets posted on Snipplr.com en-us Tue, 21 May 2013 22:04:55 GMT http://snipplr.com/view/13743/bitly-urlshortening-script-for-textexpander-that-associates-urls-with-your-bitly-account/ TextExpander is a great Mac tool that expands special abbreviations typed anywhere in the OS into useful snippets of text. One of the AppleScript snippets included shortens a URL in the clipboard using the bit.ly URL-shortening service. You copy the URL from your browser and just type /bitly in an email, IM, or Twitter, for example, and the abbreviation is replaced by a shortened URL. One advantage of bit.ly over other shortening services is that it provides click statistics and other useful information for each shortened URL. If you have a (free) bit.ly account, the URLs you shorten are easily accessed through their site. However, the script included with TextExpander shortens the URL without associating it with your bit.ly account. _This_ version of the script is a very simple modification which associates URLs you shorten with your bit.ly account. To use this script, change `[your_username]` and `[your_API_key]` in line 9 to the correct values. (Once you have created a bit.ly account, you can find your API key here: [http://bit.ly/app/developers](http://bit.ly/app/developers).) Create a new snippet in TextExpander and paste the script into the Content field, making sure to select AppleScript in the dropdown above the field. Set the abbreviation and you're done.

]]> Fri, 03 Apr 2009 07:39:15 GMT http://snipplr.com/view/13743/bitly-urlshortening-script-for-textexpander-that-associates-urls-with-your-bitly-account/