The Shorter Links WordPress plugin overrides the default WordPress "shortlink" URL with one that has a custom text in it. You can also set a different base URL.

A custom field called "Shorter link" is created once a post is saved, so that you can change the shortlink to a more memorable set of characters.

The choice of base URL to use for the short link can be configured within Settings->Shorter Links.

Related Links:

• Plugin home page

Is there a bookmarklet to extract shorturl links?

Try this bookmarklet: Short URL

(Just drag to your bookmarks bar)

The source of the bookmarklet is:

javascript:(function(){var%20url=document.location;var%20links=document.getElementsByTagName('link');var%20found=0;for(var%20i=0,l;l=links[i];i++){if(l.getAttribute('rel')=='shortlink'||(/alternateshort/).exec(l.getAttribute('rel'))){found=l.getAttribute('href');break;}}if(!found){for(var%20i=0;l=document.links[i];i++){if(l.getAttribute('rel')=='shorturl'){found=l.getAttribute('href');break;}}}if(found){prompt('URL:',found);}else{alert("No%20shortlink%20found");}})();

There's also the "Short URL" Safari extension by Clink Ecker.

1. Upload shorter_links.php and config.php to /wp-content/plugins/shorter-links directory
2. Activate the plugin through the 'Plugins' menu in WordPress
3. If you want to set a different base URL, change it from Settings->Shorter Links.
4. To set a custom shorter link, update a post so that the custom field is created and then fill in a unique value in the field.