Putting the user-selectable short-code in the subdomain has the advantage that it is the first thing that users read in a URL, and as such it is an opportunity to provide some contextual information about the link.
Here are some examples:
https://svelte4.yo.link --> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOXq89h8saI
https://hn.yo.link --> https://news.ycombinator.com/
https://longest-url-ever.yo.link --> https://llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogo...
I couldn't find any other shorteners that use this approach, hence wanted to build one.
Redis is great for counting realtime clicks, sliced by hour, day, month, country/city and user browser. PostgreSQL is used as master DB to host the short-code destination-link mapping, and for user management.
I plan to add some extra features, like: - tagging the links so it is easy to search and categorise. - password protect the links. - separate analytics for QR code visits.
Please let me know what you think. Any ideas, suggestions or critic is very welcome. If you are interested in collaborating on such a project, please let me know ([email protected])