World's longest URL?

As part of my increasing involvement in the web side of things here at work I have been spending some of my time recently fixing mistakes and inconsistencies on our website. Unfortunately I work on a Mac and the less than perfect web-based system I need to access to make my corrections only runs properly on a PC.

Rather than running up and down the office between my Mac and the spare PC all day, I have been writing proof marks on a printout of the web page in question and giving this to a friendly PC operator to make the corrections for me. Very high-tech, huh?

As well as the usual typos and lapses in style, one unique element of subbing (or indeed, copy editing) for the web is fixing broken hyperlinks. Whenever I have found a broken link I have been writing the correct URL on the paper proof for the PC operator to tap in for me.

This was working well – until I came across a URL on a certain government website that went on... and on... and on. I copied it into Word and did a quick character count only to find that this web address was a whopping 362 characters long. That's definitely a personal record.

Anyone beat that?

7 comments:

Apus said...

Here's a puzzle for you: are there any words with more than 362 letters?

JD (The Engine Room) said...

Not that I can think of... perhaps the name of some chemical compound?

Unknown said...

actually there is is some scientific term for some compound it is over 1000 letters

Anonymous said...

http://tinyurl.com/cpsx8 longest. Url. Ever. I just shortened it...tehehe ;)

Anonymous said...

I think it's the longest URL in the world...
(It's redirect to the google.com.)(2176 chars)
www.thelongesturlintheworld.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

Anonymous said...

This page is create the longest URLs in the world:
thelongesturlintheworld.tk

sam myers said...

And I thought you meant longest website. I had just learned about http://worlds-highest-website.com and http://worldslongestwebsite.com.

The longest URL is http://www.goglogo.com/s.asp?lo=LONGEST%20URL%20EVER%20A%20young%20girl%20named%20Lisa%20was%20left%20alone%20on%20several%20accounts%20as%20her%20parents%20worked%20late.%20Her%20parents%20bought%20her%20a%20dog%20to%20keep%20her%20company.%20One%20night%20Lisa%20was%20awoken%20by%20a%20constant%20dripping%20sound.%20She%20got%20up%20and%20went%20to%20the%20kitchen%20to%20turn%20off%20the%20tap%20properly.%20As%20she%20was%20getting%20back%20into%20the%20bed%20she%20stuck%20her%20hand%20under%20the%20bed%20and%20the%20dog%20licked%20it.%20The%20dripping%20sound%20continued,%20so%20she%20went%20to%20the%20bathroom%20and%20turned%20off%20the%20tap%20properly%20in%20there,%20too.%20She%20went%20back%20to%20her%20bedroom%20and%20stuck%20her%20hand%20under%20the%20bed,%20and%20the%20dog%20licked%20it%20again.%20But%20the%20dripping%20continued,%20so%20she%20went%20outside%20and%20turned%20off%20the%20taps%20out%20there.%20She%20came%20back%20to%20bed,%20stuck%20her%20hand%20under%20it,%20and%20the%20dog%20licked%20it%20again.%20The%20dripping%20continued,%20drip,%20drip,%20drip.%20This%20time%20she%20listened%20and%20located%20the%20source%20of%20the%20dripping.%20it%20was%20coming%20from%20her%20cupboard.%20She%20opened%20the%20cupboard%20door,%20and%20there%20was%20her%20dog%20hanging%20upside%20down%20with%20its%20neck%20cut,%20and%20written%20on%20the%20window%20on%20the%20inside%20of%20the%20cupboard%20was,%20HUMANS%20CAN%20LICK%20TOO!!!%20 no?