You just have to supply the content via the URL (up to 2048 characters)
Here is how it works:
If the content cannot be effectively compressed, omit the compression step and use the URL
http://6b8.de/u/<type>/<subtype>/<encoded data>
There is a shorter URL for compressed HTML content that enables you to use 9 more characters:
http://6b8.de/h/<encoded data>
This idea is not new and has been implemented in the Data URI scheme supported by most browsers. The Data URI scheme is handled completely within the browser and does not need a server but it does not support compression and cannot be indexed by search engines.
Here is a Python-script that will generate the data: and the 6b8.de URI for a file.
Fractal landscape generated with Javascript (source: PlayfulJS)
A page that links to itself using a Javascript Quine
Shakespeare's Hamlet, stored via bit.ly
If you can think about other cool examples using any MIME-type or the full power of Javascript, send me your idea or the link. The possibilities are finite.
What would be extremely cool: A compressed URL generating a page that links to itself. I do not know if that is possible. Examples of compressed files that decompress to themselves exist.
No. You can see this website as a fun contest or an illustration of the Infinite monkey theorem and of Kolmogorov complexity.
If the traffic or abuse level of this service gets to high, I will have to rethink the whole idea.
Would life be fun without limits? :-)
This server can handle URLs with up to 32751 characters but the Sitemap protocol has a maximum URL length of 2048 which indicates that search engines do not support more.
The combination of data URIs and URL-shorteners allows the use of URL-shorteners as data stores. This may be one of the reasons that some of them deliberately block shortening of data URIs. 6b8.de-URLs can be shortened, though.
Also, the limit lowers the probability that some day, I will have to explain to law enforcement that we do not actually host any content.
I guess so. You can see such links as ultimate endorsement of the content. The Data URI scheme makes this even more clear by removing the need for a service handling the decoding.
