Field Guide to Programmers

This is the home page for my little Greasemonkey script to take any page on Amazon and create a TinyURL complete with your Amazon Associates ID.

* Requires Greasemonkey Firefox Extension
What is Greasemonkey?

Here’s how it works:

1. After installing Greasemonkey, add the the script, then go to Amazon and browse products.

2. Once you find a product you want to link to, hit CONTROL-SHIFT-T (Mac) or ALT-SHIFT-U (Win/Linux).

3. First time you use it, the script will prompt for your Amazon Associates ID. Greasemokey will store this locally. It isn’t sent anywhere.

4. The current URL gets a &tag=[your associates ID] appended and that is sent to TinyURL for shortening.

5. A dialog shows you the new TinyURL, the original URL, and puts the TinyURL into a textbox for easy copying.

That’s it! You’re ready to tweet, blog, email, etc.

Note: Once the Amazon Associates ID is set, you can change it by hitting CONTROL-SHIFT-I (Mac) or ALT-SHIFT-I (Win/Linux).

Props: This was my first Greasemonkey script. I’m much indebted to Mark Wilkie and his GmailTinyURL script, from which I cribbed/learned a great deal.