Kawaljit Bedi of NDTV, whom I met at BarCampDelhi, tells me about ShortText - a new Text sharing service developed by his brother.The site has already made it to the Digg frontpage and delicious popular websites.
What would you do if you have to send a big chunk to text to someone - either you'll email it or upload the file to a webserver or copy-paste the text in a IM chat conversation.
Here's a better alternative - use ShortText.com. Write the text in ShortText and publish. You get a permanent URL to the text which you either email, share in a chat room or just bookmark for later reference.
ShortText also allows visitors to post comments in you post (with requiring to sign-in) which can be subscribed using RSS.
ShortText doesn't support HTML yet though any URL text is automatically converted into a live hyperlink. Language support is also limited. (Text in 24 languages, ShortText Page)
Similar services like pastebin, ChangeToLink, PasteHere.com, NoPaste and nopaste:pastebin are already popular among programmers for swapping snippets of code. Some of these services even offer syntax highlighting features.
Reader Comments
Long time lurker, first time 'caller'.. :)
Similar but with tagging: Snippets.
Written on 12/3/06 9:58 PM
They Show The Google Ads On Every Article Bottom......What Abt That?
Written on 12/3/06 11:34 PM
Interesting...yes does look similar to Snippets/Pastebin etc...but somehow is much simpler and intuitive...
I was wondering what other use it will come beside sharing code...well they have it in the FAQ -
Q10) Sounds like a neat idea. Can you give me scenarios where I can use shortText.com?
* Instant blogging.
* Throwing a party? Post the details here and share the url with your friends (remember to make the post private).
* Want to provide more information about yourself or your company in forums/email/visiting cards/banners? shortText it and put a link.
* People always bug you for directions to your office or home? shortText it and just provide the link to whoever needs it (make it private).
* Instant message has a size limit? Quickly shortText it and IM the url.
* Emails getting filtered out at work? shortText the content of the email and just send the url.
* Store hard-to-remember information online.
* Publish code, research work, ideas, rants and raves; quickly.
* shortText anything which you find yourself typing again and again.
* shortText short lived webpage content which you would have to save locally otherwise. Find it later by searching for relevant keywords.
* Don't have a website? Create your own shortText url to promote your product or provide promotion details.
Written on 13/3/06 2:46 AM
Kaileena - They would need money for hosting, etc.
I think Adsense revenue would cover that cost.
Written on 13/3/06 3:16 PM