nodebb-plugin-smoothshorts

Seamless short URL plugin for NodeBB

Nobody likes itchy pants, do you? Neither do I. :smirk:

That's why these shorts are seamlessly woven into the NodeBB experience, your users won't feel a thing.

Installation

1. Preferably, install SmoothShorts from the list of available plugins in your NodeBB ACP.

Manual installation via npm install nodebb-plugin-smoothshorts is possible, but doesn't guarantee compatibility with your NodeBB version.

2. Activate the plugin in ACP/Extend/Plugins.

3. Setup plugin (and hash already existing posts/topics) in ACP/Plugins/SmoothShorts.

4. Go click 'em! :D

Methods

Copy Button

Given that the client's browser supports the execCommand('copy'), SmoothShorts will add an icon next to post links, which copies the short URL with a single click. The context menu method is always available.

NOTE: If you are using NodeBB >=1.0.0, you have a more suitable icon (.fa-hashtag) available. The plugin's default .fa-external-link ensures backwards compatibility. You can change the icon in the settings.

Context Menu

Once a user opens the browser's context menu upon a topic link, the href value of that link gets replaced with its assigned hash:

This also works on posts:

(Not all themes have those links; same goes for teasers. Posts are hashed, regardless of used theme.)

The now copied address is of the form https://yourNodeBB.org/ss/:hash (default, see URL Format). Visiting it will redirect to the associated post or topic:

Settings (ACP/Plugins/SmoothShorts)

###- Modifier key

Users would have to press Ctrl/Alt/Shift while opening the context menu to replace the link. ###- URL Format

Define the format of your short URLs! Use :hash as a placeholder for topic/post hashes. (e.g. short.com/ss/:hash, short.com/:hash, short.com/:hash/yolo)

NOTE: Changing the URL format requires a NodeBB restart to apply the route hashes are accepted on.

###- Copy Button

Pick the icon for the copy button from the fontawesome icon set.

Q/A & Known Issues

###Why not use a service like bit.ly or goo.gl?

Coming in 0.4.0!

~~For two reasons:~~

~~1. While investigating bit.ly, I noticed that they impose limits on calls to their API. No need to hate them for it; in fact, they have every right to do so, protecting themselves against bots and such. But unfortunately, as hashing is triggered by every user creating a topic/post, a single spam attack on your NodeBB could make you run out of those API calls; just like that.~~

~~2. Links to posts in NodeBB are not structured like /topic/topicslug/postID, but rather /topic/topicslug/positionInTopic. Which means that if you purge a post, your already created short urls would get all mixed up.~~