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ITSS WebDev Guide

What is "http://www.d.umn.edu/goto/warp"?

Warp is a service available from ITSS that allows you to "shorten" a URL. For example, this page is buried in the ITSS directory inside another directory named "webdev".

Before Warp

If I wanted to tell people how to get to this page, it would go something like:

1. Go to the UMD home page
2. Click twice after ".edu/" to get a cursor
3. Type in "itss/webdev/guide/warp.html"
4. Hit "Return" (Mac OS) or "Enter" (Windows)

Ugly. And this is a short url.

After Warp

With Warp I could tell them:

1. Go to the UMD home page
2. Click twice after ".edu/" to get a cursor
3. Type in "goto/warp"
4. Hit "Return" (Mac OS) or "Enter" (Windows)

Through the magic of Warp, the user would be sent to the longer url.

The Power of Warp

Warp really flexes its muscle when the real url is long and has upper and lower case letters. If I wanted to get to the "Cascading Style Sheets" online workshop in the ITSS Training Web site without Warp, I would need to type in the following string after the "edu/" at the UMD home page:

itss/support/Training/Online/CSS

Now that the url is warped, I only have to type in the following string after the "edu/" at the UMD home page:

goto/css

Very nice!

No Free Lunch in Life

Warp is a first-come, first-served service. Once a warp name is assigned, it belongs to that person or group until they are finished with it, and Warp is not available for "~" accounts (e.g. ~breeves).

For warping your url, contact Sally Bradt at 8856 or email Sally at sbradt@d.umn.edu.