dalt.in blog

Rolling Out New Features!

Mon, 29 Mar 2010 19:48:00 -0700

Hey Everyone,

I just wanted to make a quick post here that we are working on rolling out some new features for the website. Some will just be convenience features while others will establish a better experience using Dalt.in. We’re hard at work on these, and we can’t wait to launch them to show you guys.

Thanks for using Dalt.in!

New Buttons!

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 23:02:00 -0800

Hey Everyone! We’ve been asking for your opinions on the site, and we got quite a bit of useful feedback! Although we won’t be able to incorporate everyones ideas into the site, we hope to do so with the most beneficial ideas. One suggestion popped up quite a bit, and that was regarding our boring buttons. We had planned to change them in the future, however we figured we’d do a little research on the best buttons that will keep our sit running fairly fast. We have looked at different variations, and started putting ours together.

We have learned that images will slow up the loading process of the site. So, our buttons are the same, however we just gave them some color and made them pretty with CSS. CSS already does pre-loading while the content of the site is loading. Therefore, the buttons content and design will just run right along with the process. (Sorry, I don’t want to get too much into this, because I know a lot of you probably have no idea what all this means, or don’t care.) ;]

Anyways, be sure to check them out. Please be sure to aware us of any bugs you experience with them, or slower loading times than usual by contacting us here.

If you would like to see a before an after image we quickly put together, you can view that here.

Enjoy, and thanks for all the awesome suggestions!

All Servers Up and Speedy!

Wed, 20 Jan 2010 18:43:00 -0800

Hey Everyone,

We have fixed our servers and everything is running really nicely. The loading time’s are responding beautifully.

Thanks for those who reported the issue, and were being patient during our downtime.

Speed and Performance Issues.

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 19:43:00 -0800

Hi Everyone, last night we discovered very slow performance in loading time. It appears that when people are hitting our site, it’s taking a while to officially launch the page open. Earlier during the day, things seemed to be running quite nicely, however it looks like we are having those hiccups again at this time. We will be spending the night working with our techs in solving this issue. It may be so that not everyone will be able to access our website. The blog however should be running. We will be keeping our updates listed below.

Thanks!

UPDATES:
[1] - We have started diagnosing the issues.
[2] - We have discovered possible issues.

We have discovered that there has been an extremely high activity of Yahoo, Google, and Bing crawlers on the server which consumed all the free apache processes. We have tried to minimize the processes on the overloaded server, however that has done nothing. For now, we are waiting for things to flatten out and return the apache process to a normal rate. The site should be running a bit better now.

Performance Upgrades, and Tools Announcement

Sat, 02 Jan 2010 17:53:00 -0800

Hi Everyone, Last night we cleaned up some minor things that should now improve speed. Our homepage also has less going on, for faster loading times. We’ve looked into some research and have observed results that “prettier” web pages with a lot going on tend to load slower than others. That is particularly why our homepage is quite simple. Because of this, URLs are literally shortened in a second or less. We’re very excited to have this kind of speed and performance. We’ve also compared our speed to our larger competitors. Tr.im’s overall load page time, and URL shortening time was horrible. Way too slow for those on the go. Bit.ly loaded faster and shortened faster than Tr.im, but not as fast as Dalt.in. We suspect this because Bit.ly is using a special and fancy JavaScript. We have minimized that from our site so your shortened URL pops up much more faster.

In other news, the planning of the Tools page is going great, in fact, we’re almost finished. Sometime this week we will be rocking out the plans and start putting them into action. I won’t be sharing our plans in this post, but expect it in the next one, or the next few coming up!

Thank you all so much for the support!
Enjoy!

Merry Christmas!

Fri, 25 Dec 2009 20:32:58 -0800

Hi Everyone! We just wanted to wish you a very merry Christmas today! We’re currently hard at work on the tools page. We’re excited because (if things go as planned) there’s a possibility all of you who have a website can get involved, and possibly get your website advertised on ours for free!

Stay tuned!

Privacy Policy Update

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 21:54:03 -0800

Hi Everyone, We have just launched our Privacy Policy. It is strongly recommended that you read and understand it. Anytime we update it, we will leave an update here. If you have questions regarding the statement, don’t hesitate to email us at support@dalt.in.

Thanks!

Report Abuse

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 20:56:24 -0800

Hello Everyone, today we have completed implimenting one of our newest features, Abuse Reporting. Every so often we get emails of users receiving URLs from those who have abused our service, or have broken our Terms of Service.

At the bottom of every page (excluding the blog) you will now see a link that says “Abuse”. Simply click on that link and fill out a small form including the http://dalt.in link, your email, and the reason why the URL should be disabled. Don’t worry, if you give us a lame reason, that’s cool. You will just be helping us detect some of the issues with it. The only reason we are requesting your email address is in case we have questions. Our team who checks the URLs does not see your email, so no need to worry about being spammed or emailed.

Thanks for all of the help in keeping Dalt.in a spam-free website! :)

Email Upgrade

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 19:33:26 -0800

Hi Everyone, as you probably noticed from our last post, we were having issues with our email system. We detected that it was our servers that was lacking with keeping up with us, therefore leaving messages lost. Good news, all lost messages have been found and answered as we have switched to an alternate server and program.

In addition to these email upgrades, we are ditching our third-party program that has served us for a while. Instead, we have put together our own contact form. It seems to be working a lot better for us, plus its running on our own servers, and everything is on the same ‘boat’.

Thank you all for the emails and such, we appreciate it! And if you would like to send us your comment, question, or concern, click here!

Enjoy!

Email Issues

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 18:29:41 -0800

Hi Everyone, unfortunately, we have been experiencing some issues with our emailing system, and we didn’t even know it! Lot’s of your emails were lost, and we’re truly sorry for that. Luckily, they have been found! It seems as though our emailing filters were blocking certain things from reaching our support team. We have switched over to a new email platform, and as soon as we hooked up the servers, a flood of lost messages appeared.

In addition, I have gotten the word that all emails have been answered now. Sorry if you sent us an email in the middle of November, and are just getting a response!

As always, our team is standing by email, so drop us some of your questions, concerns, or comments, and we’ll be responding shortly!

Thanks!

Weekly Maintenance Completed

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 14:56:08 -0800

Hi Everyone, In our previous post we had announced that we were going to make some minor site changes. We have completed these, and in the process improved some of our sites stability while URLs are being shortened. Our system should now cut down links in a matter of less than a second.

We have also have updated our FAQ section, and added a few more questions that are commonly asked to use via email.

And lastly, we have removed our API page and switched it with Tools. API information will be added to the tools page in the future. For now, we’re updating the Tools page with…well, tools! That’s all we can share for now though!

Enjoy!

Updates Complete

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 23:42:00 -0800

Hi Everyone, we have completed our minor site updates…well, minor to you, huge to us! One of the major changes you will be noticing is the page where you get your shortened URL is a lot less glitchy. Thanks for the reports. We have fixed it up, and it’s looking great. Not to mention, we have even added some more sources to share your URL with. We’ll be adding even more shortly.

So, what’s the plan for this week? We have made the decision to completely put the API program on hold for now. This is because it’s going to take quite some time to put the program together, and learn it. Therefore, sometime this week you will notice that the API page will be disappearing, and a Tools page will appear. We’re excited for this page because we will be launching a special feature where you can shortened URLS anywhere with the FireFox, Safari, or Google Chrome browser, by using bookmarks. This has been in development for a while, so we’re totally excited.

That’s all for now! Come back later for more updates! :)

Enjoy!

Minor Changes

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:02:00 -0800

Hi Everyone, first off, the Saturday Server Maintenance went really well. We didn’t run into any issues, and everything is still working great. That’s always great news. ;)

Second, we will be making some minor changes to the Stats Center, and the way links are submitted to our website. Although you won’t notice too much of a change, it will be beneficial. We plan to make the final launches of these changes around Wednesday.

Some of you have picked up on our latest feature, multiple links. Before this (unannouced) update, the same link submitted as someone else would be the same. For example: If you submitted http://yahoo.com and it’s short URL was http://dalt.in/2f, the next person who submitted http://yahoo.com will get http://dalt.in/2f. We have changed this because those people who chose a long custom extension for theirs, the next submitter would also receive it. To simplify matters, each submitted link will now be unique, and you will no longer get the same extension given to someone else. This will also help you accurately track your stats (they were being shared before).

Thank you, and Enjoy!

Scheduled Server Maintenance

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 16:16:38 -0800

Hi Everyone, In efforts to better serve you, Saturday November 14, 2009 we will be updating our servers to preform better, as we have been noticing minor issues that can later affect the site. This server maintenance will take place between 01:00 AM and 05:00 AM (ET).

Our server updates will allow greater security options, which is important as we slowly develop our API service.

Shortened URLS’s may be working on and off between 1:00 AM and 5:00 AM (ET).

Thanks!

Statistics Feature Launched!

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 22:53:26 -0800

Hey Everyone! We are proud to announce that we have just launched Dalt.in’s latest and greatest feature, Statistics Center! At the Statistics Center, you can check just about every aspect of your URL! The best part is, it’s not even hard to read! Special thanks to Google Chart Development, we have implemented charts and pie graphs too! Statistic Center enables you to see where your URL was clicked around the world, what website, how many times in different time frames and more!

Going to the Statistics Center is a piece of cake! Each URL you make will already have a special deticated Statistics Center set up and ready to go. It will be up and running by your very first click! Once you make it, click the “url statistics” button, or just put the plus sign (+) at the end of your shortened URL! (Ex: http://dalt.in/5dq+)

We wanted to get this feature out to you guys very quickly, so we couldn’t make as pretty as we wanted, so you will be seeing changes as time goes by.

If you happen you run into any bugs, please be sure to report it by going to the Contact page, and selecting Bug Report for the subject. This will help us to make Dalt.in perfect and enjoyable for everyone! If you ever have any suggestions or anything for the site, just use that same contact form. Feedback is most certainly welcomed!

Thank you all for the support!

Enjoy!!

What's coming soon?

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:12:49 -0800

Hey Everyone, as I have recently mentioned (probably more on Twitter), we’re working on a Stats feature. There’s been a lot of emails of people requesting the stats of their shortened URL, and we cannot keep up with all of them. Therefore, we are no longer offering this service. All emails requesting stats for URLs will be filtered to the delete folder.

Now, we understand that to some of you, the stats of your URLs is important to you, so we’re working on getting this new feature launched as soon as possible. You will be able to see when and where your shortened URL was clicked. It will list what country, state, and time it was clicked, as well as the site they clicked it from. We’re really stoked about this. We’ll probably be using graphs and charts as well. It won’t be launched until it’s perfect! ;)

In other news, we have recently updated our Terms of Service and Contact page. Keep checking back here for news on the stats. We expect to have them launched within the next couple hours.

Enjoy!

Unexpected Downtime

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:08:00 -0800

Hi Everyone, We have found some issues that need our attention immediately, so tonight, some of the site will not be available for about 2 hours. Depending on what other issues pop up, we may need to shut down the whole site until tomorrow.

We’re really sorry about this, but while we’re still in beta, it’s best to solve these issues now!

Thanks!

Update: Hey Everyone, We have managed to fix most of the problems and bugs that users were experiencing. Things should be running more smoothly now. Thank you for the reports. Tomorrow, Check the blog for some really exciting news! Enjoy!

Update to "Long URL" Box / Future Updates

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 22:25:00 -0800

Hi Everyone, We have been getting some emails regarding the input box and how (very) long URLs disappear. This happened because there was no sentence return. Therefore, in order to fix this issue, we have recreated the “Long URL” box. Long URLs will now return down to the next sentence, and always be in your view.

Here’s an image explaining the issue further. Thanks to those who emailed us, and reported the issue.

We also have some future updates planned soon, and when each one is completed, we will post here.

Publish Terms of Service Page
Establish a Site Map
Continue to upgrade the “Quick Share” center.
Update the “FAQ” and “Contact” pages
Create a Bookmark feature for Mozilla Firefox and Safari
Launch API information - expect in the upcoming months.

Enjoy!

Site Development

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 20:05:00 -0700

In the grand opening of our new site, we’re really excited to have you be apart of many of our beta stages. As of right now, the actual URL shortening part of the site is no longer in beta. You are free to use it as you please. Things like this blog, API, and FAQ are still in the development process. Unfortunately for some, API will be one of the last things we work on. We’re currently putting together a team and will have more information regarding this soon.

In efforts to get our site known, we will be inquiring help in advertising from sites like Yahoo! and Google. We are currently working with Wikipedia in other regards. Please feel free to stay tuned, as in the upcoming days, various information will be posted. Thanks!