The Twitter for iPhone app (itunes) can be configured to use your very own Firefly URL shortener! Here’s how.
~ Actually, it’s quite simple. First, setup your own Firefly instance, possibly using Heroku.
When that’s done, simple open Twitter for iPhone, then follow this path:
Tap the three dots Open “Accounts & Settings” Tap the “Settings” button at the bottom Open “Services” Choose “URL Shortening” Then pick “Custom…” All right, you’re now ready to enter your magic URL.
I’ve been doing some work on Firefly lately and tonight I’ve released version 1.3.0. If you’re using Firefly it’s recommended you upgrade to the latest and greatest version. ~ For those who missed it: Firefly is a simple URL shortener gem that can be used to host your own personal (or corporate) URL shortner on your own domain. Since Firefly is rack-based, it’s easy to deploy to Heroku or other ruby hosting providers.
I just pushed Firefly 1.1.0 (code) to Rubygems containing a very nice new feature: QR Codes.
Why would you care? Well, almost anything can scan QR Codes nowadays. Simple add .png to the end of your shortened URL and you’ll get a nice QR Code that you can print or embed on somewhere on the web. Give it a try: http://aj.gs/2Y.png
Simply scan the image and it will yield your short URL, ready for use.
Today version 0.4.3 of Firefly was released with some minor updates. To complete the package, a new gem firefly-client has been released.
The client library allows your Ruby application to easily shorten URLs with a remote Firefly server. It’s very easy to use and lightweight.
Firefly 0.4.3 Changelog Handle invalid API keys correctly. Added a fix for MySQL users to update the code column to use the correct collation.
By popular demand I’ve setup a guide to setup your own personal URL shortener with Firefly and Heroku. I’ve timed it an you can do it in under 2.5 minutes. How’s that for fast?
~
I’m going to assume that you have git installed on your computer and that you have an already working Heroku account. If not, sign up here for Heroku first.
I’ll be referencing to a my_firefly_dir in this guide.
I just pushed Firefly 0.4.1 to Rubygems. Updating is easy:
gem update firefly Don’t forget to restart your server, that’s all.
The 0.4.1 release covers the following changes:
Normalize URLs before shortening them. This prevents false duplicates. Validate URLs to be valid HTTP or HTTPS, don’t accept others. Closes #8 Don’t ask for the API key after shortening a URL with the bookmarklet. Show the highlighted URL separately. Closes #7.