“Bit.ly Offers In-Gmail URL Shortening Gadget” by Gina Trapani for Lifehacker has a quick set of instructions for installing the handy URL shortening gadget in your Gmail account.
Bit.ly is a URL shortening service — it will take a long web address such as the monstrous permalinks generated by Google Maps, and transform it into a short, manage URL. With Bit.ly, this URL:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Times+Square,+New+York,+NY&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=37.052328,78.75&ie=UTF8&ll=40.757855,-73.985646&spn=0.008663,0.019226&z=16&g=Times+Square,+New+York,+NY&iwloc=addr&layer=c&cbll=40.757575,-73.985884&panoid=GI52sksWQJ_BXuhNBZGOsQ&cbp=12,43.7482451636503,,0,0.26969569089711665
Becomes http://bit.ly/3K6xEy.
The new Bit.ly URL Shortening Gadget for Gmail lets you use the service right inside Google’s e-mail interface. In order to use the feature, you must have “Gadgets by URL” enabled in the Gmail Labs section.
