[Theforum] Amazon associates URL generator

[Madhu Menon]

Hi folks.

Marlene pointed me to this thread where she lamented the lack of an easy
Amazon.com URL generator with our associates ID in it.
http://lists.evolt.org/theforumarchive/Week-of-Mon-20020715/005925.html

So I decided to quickly put together a small script that does just that
without going through Amazon's painful associates logging in process.

The URL: http://members.evolt.org/madhu/amazon.htm

Enter any damn Amazon URL you want, as long as it's of a real item (not
limited to books) and not a search results page or something like that. So
the Glasshaus usability book URL could be like this:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1904151035/qid%3D1027107157/sr%3D11-1/ref%3Dsr%5F11%5F1/102-5101245-6306530

Go ahead, put that all in. Enter an associates ID (it defaults to the
evolt.org one - usability and all that) and out pops a usable associates ID
URL, which also happens to bypass the "similar items" page and goes
directly to the item description page. So the above URL becomes:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1904151035/ref=nosim/evoltorg02-20

This script was written in about 10 minutes, so there isn't any error
checking blah blah blah that you expect in production code. And if anyone
dares to point out that my HTML doesn't validate, I assure you that if we
ever meet in person, I *will* disable a few of your body parts. Believe me,
I can do it. :p

Oh, and while this is hastily written code, you can also use it for
generating URLs for your own sites. Just change the associates ID.

Feedback and bug reports are welcome - offlist.

Regards,

Madhu

<<<   *   >>>
Madhu Menon
User Experience Consultant
e-mail: webguru at vsnl.net