Website URLs, for the most part, are long and ugly; so long and so ugly they get mucked up when you try to share a link with someone else via email or text message. That explains why sites like TinyURL are so popular. They take long and ugly and make it small and beautiful, even though it’s little more than a redirect from a short link to the long and ugly variety.
Now you can create short URLs from your Mac’s Menubar. All you need is the inexpensive Short Menu app. Once installed, Short Menu takes a URL you’ve copied and makes it short by using any one of a number of online URL shortening services.
Copy a URL, click Short Menu in the Menubar, select the shortened URL to paste wherever you want.
There’s not much to set up and hardly any learning curve. Use URL shortening services from bit.ly, Droplr, and CloudApp. The URL you copied to the Mac’s clipboard is automatically shortened using the service you choose (everything gets synced up between Macs by using iCloud).
Even better, Short Menu is fast, almost to the point of instant, and all your URL’s are stored on your Mac so you save a few steps if you need to send the same URL again later. The built-in Auto Short function watches you while you work. Copy a URL and it automatically shortens the URL and copies it back to your Mac’s clipboard.
Short Menu is simple, sweet, affordable, and easy to use. Anyone who receives a shortened URL will appreciate what you’ve done. There’s even an option to use a PopClip extension.