Shortening the Long
URL with the "Go" Script
Everybody wants to make it easier for people to get to their pages,
especially when advertising a link that users are going to have
to type-in by hand. But we can't just put all the files on the Web
server at the top level of the filesystem, because that would make
maintaining the site pretty difficult.
Instead, we've come up with a special script that will accept an
easy-to-type URL and redirect users to an area of the MHC site that
is many levels deep. It's called go, because that happens to be
a really short word that is also a good description of what you
want to do quickly.
Note: always verify a URL before sending a mass mailing with a
full or shortcut Web address. Copy the URL from your document into
a Web browser and hit the enter key.
Important Notes
When telling people about your Go link, be sure to tell them the
full URL, which has the format: http://www.mtholyoke.edu/go/Long-Name-Here
Be sure to update your Go links whenever you move the pages they
refer to. If you don't, anyone using the Go link will get an error
message. Bad links are displayed in red in the Links Editor, so
you can easily spot them.
Some Long Names are reserved in advance, for future expansion.
If you try to use one of these names, you will get an error message
instructing you to ask the Webmaster to create the link for you.
If a vague or inappropriate link is used, it may be removed by
the Webmaster. For instance, if you are an instructor, don't use
a Long Name like Chem-101, unless you know you are the only one
teaching a course with that name.
How the "Go" Script Works
Let's say you have a page about Mary Lyon that is located at http://www.mtholyoke.edu/lits/library/archives/marylyon.html,
and you're about to create a printed advertisement for this site.
Rather than telling people to type in that whole long URL, you can
instead create a "Go" link called MaryLyon. Now, if users
type-in any of these URLs, they will get to your site:
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/go/MaryLyon
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/go/Mary-Lyon
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/go/marylyon
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/go/MaRYLyOn
Editing Links
The link editor asks for two bits of information, the Long Name
and the Location of the page to link to. The Long Name is what end-users
will type in after http://www.mtholyoke.edu/go/ in order to get
to your site. It must contain only the characters A to Z, a to z,
the digits 0 to 9, period, underscore, or dash -- no spaces!
The Location is the URL of the page or directory you want to link
to. You do not need to enter http://www.mtholyoke.edu at the beginning,
it is assumed. You can enter the full path of a particular file
or, better yet, if there is an index file in the folder, it can
end with just the name of the folder. For example, these two are
equivalent:
/marylyon/index.html
/marylyon
The file or folder pointed to by the Location entry must already
exist before you can create a link to it.
The Short Name is created by the links editor, and you cannot edit
it. It represents the shortest possible string of characters that
a user might type after http://www.mtholyoke.edu/go/ to get to your
site.
Go
directly to the Link Editor.
You will be asked for a username and password.
Enter the same ones you use to access email at MHC.
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