One time URL or Hidden URL?
Have you ever wanted to share an URL without actually showing the exact URL? I mean, just a one-time URL. The receiver won't get a chance to access it again. Also, the receiver is unable to save it, bookmark it, or memorize it and access it.
https://safenote.co/private-link
I know this is something new, something innovative. I'm just asking your support to brand this correctly. Please feel free to share your ideas.
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It's not really new, tools like that existed 15+ years ago. It started when breaking out of IFRAMEs wasn't a thing yet, and later these tools tried scraping or proxying a page, which was much easier compared to today – I tried entering https://indiehackers.com and the result was unusable.
Frankly speaking, I am worried about the false sense of security this gives to naive users. The memoization argument is "security by obscurity", it never works. You're right by saying that bookmarking makes no sense, once the link expired. But all this still can't hinder me from opening the developer tools and a) tinkering with the page code to figure out the original URL, b) taking a screenshot of the entire page, c) copying all the text from there,...
It's nicely done and I really don't mean to offend, but I think it's nothing more than a toy. In the end, the "secured" address is still public on the Internet, and if it's not meant for everyone's eyes or certain access rules should be in place, that shouldn't happen in the first place and users should be educated about that.
Wow, thanks for this detailed explanation. Yes, I'm with you there are ways that recipients get the real URL. But here the main concern is to keep those links away from users' email threads or IMs.
After analyzing some URLs I have come up with a toggle button to toggle between proxying the URL or not. This way no more unusable websites.
What do you think about this new feature and the overall user experience?
Thanks for taking time to consider my feedback and act upon it!
The proxy/redirect toggle is a good idea, but I think the wording on the toggle button is confusing:
Instead of telling the user what happens if they change the option, you should describe what the currently active option does.
I stick to my point that users should be educated about the false sense of security (in fact, as developers, or generally as people more familiar with technology, I think that's our responsibility!), but otherwise, the user experience seems pretty solid.
Wow, never really needed something like this, but that's really cool!
Looks like it cleanly proxies everything. Nice job. The private message is cool, too, although not sure I'd trust it. I guess that's why you offer a hosted version :)
I really appreciate your feedback. Yes, anyone can buy their own version of SafeNote. What do you think about the user-friendliness of the website?
I wasn't a huge fan of the design (and I don't mean you should go and do a redesign haha), but it worked as expected and was simple to use :)
Thank you, that was the main concern. We want to keep this website as simple as possible.
I appreciate your contribution