This project started out as a simple proof of concept. I always thought that URL shorteners were a clever social media trick, and I thought it would be fun to try and make my own using our family's domain. I used Django to create the backend with a simple mySQL database to store the shortened URLs. I wanted to keep the design and flow of the app as simple and easy as possible to ensure that it would be useful.
Once I got the shortener to work, I was really excited about it, but knew that I had to make the process even easier. I had never developed a Chrome extension, but I thought it would be really useful to be able to just click a button and have the current page automatically shortened and copied to the clipboard. So I set out to making a simple Chrome extension that does just that. Now, with the extension installed, sharing links with the sau.pe URL shortener is literally as easy as clicking a button.