Integrated adaptive URL-shortening functionality

A computer-implemented method of generating a shortened version of a link, the method comprising:

• receiving a request to create a message, the request including an original link, the original link comprising address text that points to a document;
• receiving a selection of a service from among a plurality of services for sending the message;
• determining a maximum message character length associated with the service;
• determining a current character length of the message;
• determining a number of characters that remain available in the message based on the maximum message length and on the current character length;
• displaying a plurality of shortened link candidates for the original link, wherein the candidates are displayed based on the number of characters that remain available, and wherein at least one of the candidates has text related to at least one of:
• the address text of the original link, content of the document, and a rating of the content of the document;
• receiving a selection of one of the plurality of candidates;
• and
• responsive to the received selection, registering the selected candidate with a remote link-shortening server;
• and
• embedding the selected candidate in the message, and
• sending the message via the selected service.

A computer-implemented method of generating a shortened version of a URL, comprising:

• receiving a request to create a message, the request including an original URL to be shortened, the original URL comprising address text pointing to a document;
• receiving a selection of a service from among a plurality of services for sending the message;
• determining a maximum message character length associated with the service;
• determining a current character length of the message;
• determining a number of characters that remain available in the message based on the maximum message length and on the current character length;
• generating a text string based at least in part on a rating of the content of the document;
• generating a plurality of shortened URL candidates for the original URL based on the number of characters that remain available, wherein at least one of the candidates includes the text string;
• registering a selected one of the candidates with a remote URL-shortening server;
• embedding the selected candidate in the message;
• and
• sending the message via the selected service.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having executable computer program instructions embodied therein for sending a message including a shortened version of a URL, wherein actions of the computer program instructions comprise:

• displaying, in a user interface, content associated with the URL;
• receiving, via the user interface, a selection of a service from among a plurality of different types of services;
• receiving, via the user interface, a request to send a message related to the displayed content using the selected service;
• determining a maximum message character length associated with the selected service;
• determining a current character length of the message;
• determining a number of characters that remain available in the message based on the maximum message length and on the current character length;
• identifying a domain component and a path component of the URL;
• generating a plurality of shortened URL candidates for the URL based on the number of characters that remain available in the message, wherein:
• at least one of the candidates comprises the identified domain component,
• at least one of the candidates comprises segments of the identified path component, and
• displaying the plurality of shortened URL candidates in the user interface;
• and
• responsive to receiving a selection of one of the plurality of shortened URL candidates via the user interface:
• registering the selected candidate with a remote URL-shortening server,
• embedding the selected candidate in the message, and
• sending the message via the selected service.