Storing links

Links

The linkin.link site is for storing your links. And as it fills with links, the site becomes your personal convenient directory, where you will always find your links from any country, different computers, browsers, smartphones. The entire functionality of the site is built on the idea - the minimum number of steps to get the result - saving your link. Moreover, all possible unnecessary actions are automated.

Below is the main interface for displaying links. This interface is the same for different sections of the site, such as, for example, “Encrypted Links” or “Public Links”, although it has some minor differences - specific to each section.

General view of the interface for adding links

To add a link, you copy it into the field located at the top of the site. Press the "Add" button - in fact, these are all actions.

Further all worries are taken over by the site linkin.link. The link is sent to the server. On the server, the link is checked for functionality. Access via http/https. protocols is checked. The link redirect is checked. If necessary, intermediate storage and sending of cookies is performed. After all checks, the final correct version of the link is saved. Then linkin.link downloads your link and searches for the title. At the same time, the correct encoding is automatically determined - many sites return the wrong encoding. For some popular sites, name searches are performed in predefined locations. When searching for a name, the link type is automatically determined. Linkin.link can distinguish PDF from html for example.

At the end of the entire procedure, the correct link and its title are saved. This information is shown to the user.

Adding a link

For ease of use, all links are divided into groups and subgroups. The group menu is located at the top of the screen. And it is a button with the name of the group. Subgroups are paragraphs — the heading of which looks like the subgroup name with a horizontal bar. The linkin.link site offers ample opportunities for setting and managing groups/subgroups.

As you can see in the video above, the link has been added to the “Main” group, the “Common” subgroup.

Each link you add has a customization menu. To call the menu for the link, click on the square-shaped icon to the left of the link. When pressed, the link management menu appears. The menu consists of 5 icons.

Link menu

Removing the link

When clicked, the link is deleted permanently. Attention! For ease of use, the delete confirmation window is not used.

Adding an icon

An icon is added to the icon field - the field immediately after the groups menu. The URL for the icon is the same as the link that generated the icon. As a picture of an icon - an attempt is made to search for a picture with the name logo from the site to which the icon points. If the search is unsuccessful, then a screenshot of the site is used as an icon image. In the icon menu, you can set any of your pictures.

oving the link

As you build up links, you will need to organize your directory. The linkin.link site provides an easy way to move links between groups/subgroups. To do this, click the link move icon in the link menu. You will be presented with a window with a list of all groups/subgroups. One click of the mouse button on an item in the list and the link will be moved.

Editing the link title

Sometimes the linkin.link site cannot find the link title. Also, the title does not swing for encrypted links. In such cases, the default title “Site” is taken. But you can always then set any of your own title in the edit menu.

URL editing

You can always change the url of your link through the edit menu.

Editing the title and URL of the link

Icons

For frequently used sites, you can make a shortcut icon. Icons are like shortcuts to programs in Windows. They are located in the icon field - the area immediately after the groups menu. The size of the icon field can be changed. The position and size of the icon can also be changed. To add an icon, you need to call the link menu and click the add icon button -

The linkin.link website will try to find a picture with the name logo by the address of the icon. In case of failure, the image of the icon will be a screenshot of the site.

When you hover over the icon - 2 buttons become visible on the left. The upper square is the icon menu. Bottom triangular - icon size.

Icon title position.

The position of the title has 5 options. The positions change sequentially with each press of the button.

Position above the icon
Position at the top of the icon
Position in the middle
Position at the bottom of the icon
Title not displayed

Editing icon title

When you press the button, the standard title editing menu pops up.

Picture setting menu for icon

By default, linkin.link tries to download either a logo or a screenshot for the image. Sometimes, if the url of the icon is not available, the picture is not installed. In such cases, the image for the icon can be loaded manually. For this there is a picture settings menu. You can also delete a previously installed picture in the menu.

Loading a picture is possible in 2 ways.

Boot from a local drive on your computer
Download via URL

The first method is preferable because loading via URL does not always work. Servers may not return the image if their algorithms are configured to fight downloading by a non-human through a browser.

Removing an icon

When pressed, the icon is deleted permanently. Attention! For ease of use, the delete confirmation window is not used.

Pin icon

If you click on the icon and drag - then the location of the icon changes. The user adjusts the position of all icons according to his own discretion. After finishing setting the position, it is advisable to fix the icon to avoid accidental movement. To do this, use the button to block the dragging of the icon.

Icon field menu

The menu consists of 3 buttons. Located at the bottom right of the icon field.

Change the size of the icon field. It is necessary to click the left mouse button. Do not let go! Pull up / down. Let go. The field will fix its new size.

efresh the icon cache. To minimize data downloads, the site stores icons in your browser cache. Therefore, it is possible that a saved icon in one browser will not be visible in another. But this situation may never happen because for it to appear, you need to use different browsers at the same time.

Button to enter the page for managing subgroups of the current group.

Groups

All added links are divided into groups. Groups are pages in your link directory. The selection of a group is made by clicking on the button with the name of the group. All group buttons are in the group menu. The menu is at the top of the site. The menu is docked and does not scroll with scrolling.

For the convenience of displaying buttons in the group menu, their position can be changed. To do this, move the mouse over the left side of the button. The vertical gray bar will be highlighted. Press the left mouse button. Don't let go. Pull left/right. Letting go. The button will lock in its new position. In this case, the buttons on the right will move along with the button that you drag.

The first menu button is the button to open your link directory.

This is a list of all groups/subgroups with active links. Clicking the mouse - quickly jump to the desired category.

Link button to the group management page

The button is located on the right side of the groups menu. The group management page consists of 2 parts.

Adding a new group
List of existing groups

A new group is added to the end of the list of existing groups. Double-clicking the left mouse button on the group name in the list calls the name change window.

The list of existing groups consists of lines - group name and 5 group control buttons.

Move group up (in the group menu to the left)

Move group down (in the group menu to the right)

Allow a friend to view the group. This item is available only in the section "Your Links"

Safely deleting a group. In this mode, all links from the group are moved to the first group. Then the group is removed.

Complete removal of the group. The group, links and group icons are also deleted.

Subgroups

All groups are divided into subgroups. Subgroups are paragraphs — whose heading looks like the subgroup name with a horizontal bar. All links are within these paragraphs.

The subgroup has a customization menu. Button for displaying a menu for a specific subgroup - a round icon at the beginning of the line, heading the subgroup.

The subgroup menu consists of 4 buttons.

Deleting a subgroup

The subgroup and all its links are deleted permanently! When you click on the button, a confirmation window appears.

Moving a subgroup

As you accumulate subgroups, there is a need to organize your catalog. To do this, you can move your subgroup to any group. When you click on the button, a window appears with a list of available groups. To transfer, you just need to click on a group from the list.

Editing a subgroup title

When the button is pressed, the standard window for editing the subgroup header appears.

Sorting links within a subgroup

Sorting links has 4 modes. Pressing the button sequentially switches modes. The picture of the button changes in accordance with the current sorting mode.

Sorting links by title. Top down.

Sorting links by title. Upwards.

Sort by the date the link was added. Top down.

Sort by the date the link was added. Upwards.

How do I add a link to a specific subgroup?

Each subgroup can be distinguished. To do this, click on its name. The entire area of the selected subgroup changes color. To turn off the selection - you need to click again on the selected subgroup.

The new link is placed in the highlighted subgroup. If there is no selected subgroup, the link is placed in the first subgroup.

Button to enter the page for managing subgroups of the current group

The button is located at the bottom right of the icon field. In the icon menu. The subgroup management page consists of 2 parts.

Adding a new subgroup
List of existing subgroups

A new subgroup is added to the end of the list of existing subgroups. Double-clicking the left mouse button on the name of a subgroup in the list calls the window for changing the name.

The list of existing subgroups consists of lines - the name of the subgroup and 3 buttons for controlling the subgroup.

Move subgroup up

Move subgroup down

Complete removal of a subgroup. The subgroup and subgroup references are removed

Move the group to the "Public links" section. All links in the group will become available to all Internet users.

Backup all links

If you are afraid of losing your links, you can save all of them to your computer at any time. There are four buttons for this in the upper left of the screen. When you click on the button, you will be prompted to save the file with all your links. The file will be in the format the button you pressed.

The file will contain links only to the section from which you clicked save. For example, links for "Your Links" or "Encrypted Links". Encrypted links are decrypted on the browser side and a file is formed - which you are offered to download. Which will contain already decrypted links.

Download all links in text format

Loading all links as html page. You can either save the file or open it directly in your browser.

Loading all links as JSON encoding. Designed for automated systems.

Loading all links as XML encoding. Designed for automated systems.

Sections of the site

Your links

The "Your Links" section is the first and main section of the linkin.link site. The linkin.link site is your own generated link directory. The catalog is divided into groups and subgroups. All actions are kept to a minimum. Adding a link to the catalog means copying a new link into the input field and pressing the “add” button. Finish. All other actions are taken over by the linkin.link website. The link is checked for functionality. Corrected upon redirect. If necessary, cookies are broadcast between requests. For a link, its name is pumped out. And the final result is already placed in the directory.

The catalog has the broadest possibilities for customizing the display and management of added links.

For more details on the capabilities provided, see the current description in the “Links” section .

Encrypted links

If you want your links not to be seen by site administrators. As well as users who, for one reason or another, went to the linkin.link site under your username - but who do not know the special password, then this section is for you.

The section on the functions provided is similar to the section “Your Links”. But links are stored encrypted on the server.

To do this, when a new link is added by the user, the link is encrypted on the client side (in the browser) and is transmitted and stored on the server side only in encrypted form.

When a user views links, downloaded encrypted links from the server are decrypted on the client side. Those. unencrypted data is only on the client side. On the server side - the data is only encrypted. Crypto operations occur only on the client side. The crypto key never leaves the client side.

Because the server does not access your links in the open form, then the "Encrypted links" section has some restrictions compared to the "Your links" section. For example, the server cannot download the title of the link or for the logo icon or screenshot of the site. This will have to be done manually.

Algorithm

AES256 CBC mode was chosen as a crypto algorithm. Today this crypto algorithm has no vulnerabilities and is accepted as a standard all over the world. Finding an AES256 key will take approximately 3.31x10⁵⁶ years. time longer than the possible existence of the universe before thermal death. The AES256 encryption algorithm is in the aes256.js file

Description of the cryptosystem

When you first enter the "Encrypted Links" section or after deleting the key, the next page is waiting for you.

This means that no key has been entered into the browser.

The user comes up with a crypto-key. The key can be any characters and be at least 10 characters long. Expandable to 32 bytes with SHA512. hashing. Further, the crypto-key is recorded on paper for storage. Or remembered by the user. Loss of the key threatens the inability to decrypt the data!

Next, the crypto key is entered into the browser. And the enter button is pressed. A key hash is generated and sent to the server. The key hash is the signature of your key. It identifies your key, but you cannot encrypt or decrypt data with it. It uses the modern SHA512. algorithm for hash. Further, depending on the current server mode, two scenarios are possible.

Server operating mode

The server can be in two modes:

Key hash reception mode
Work mode

If the hash of the key has never been saved on the server or the hash of the key has been deleted, then the server is in the mode of “accepting the hash of the key”. In this mode, the new received key hash is saved and the server goes into operational mode.

If the server is in working mode, the new received key hash is compared with the existing one. If the hashes match, a message is sent to the user that the key is valid. Otherwise, a message is sent that the entered key is invalid.

Why is this done?

It is a security system that prevents entering different keys on the client side and storing links with different keys. And as a result, the impossibility of subsequent decryption of the data. This system also works when saving links.

Key entered successfully

If a message is sent from the server that the key has been entered successfully, then the entered key is saved in the local memory of the browser, and the “Encrypted links” section will look like the “Your links” section. Those. you can save encrypted links.

The key is stored through javascript in the browser's local memory - the window.localStorage. object . This memory keeps the browser variables even after a reboot. Attention - if you choose to clear the browser cache or click the Exit button, the key will be erased from memory! To view encrypted links, you will need to re-enter and save the key to the local memory of the browser.

If the key on the server is changed in another browser, then there is a protective mechanism to prevent the saving of links encrypted with the old key. The hash of the current key is passed along with the link to the server. And if your passed hash does not match the one stored on the server, a warning will be displayed that the keys do not match!

To view encrypted links in another browser, you will also need to enter the key. If you want to change the key, in the user profile (link in the upper right corner in the form of a username or email) in the Encryption item, enter a new key and confirm the selection. All links will be downloaded to the browser - re-encrypted and uploaded back to the server.

Key generation

If you are too lazy to come up with a key - that is, a button for generating a random key in the form of a dice. When you click on the cube, a randomly generated line will be placed in the key entry field. However, such a key must be saved to a file or on paper. It is unlikely that you will remember this line. The cube can be pressed multiple times.

Friends

Friends section provides 2 functions

Send a link to a friend. Get a link from a friend
Open to a friend for viewing any group from the section "Your links"

Adding a friend

To add a friend, the following steps are required. On the "Search" tab , enter your friend's login in the field. Click the search button. If a user with such a login exists, then information about the user with the “Add friend” button will be displayed. User information contains login, avatar, location. Check if you need the right user and if the information is correct - click on the "Add friend" button.

Your requests sent but not confirmed or rejected will be on the “Requests” tab in the “You want to add to friends” section. If you change your mind about sending a request, then in this section you can cancel it. Each request has a button to cancel.

If you have been sent an invitation to add to friends, this will be seen by the blinking plus on the "Friends" button. Go to the "Friends" section of the "Requests" tab. There, in the "Want to add you as a friend" section, you will see a request to add you as a friend. Each request has 2 buttons “Add friend” and “Decline request”. Clicking on the add button will immediately add the user as a friend, and the request for adding will disappear.

Sending a link to a friend

After adding a friend, you can send him a link. A friend can also send a link to you. When you receive a new link, this is signaled by a flickering new link icon on the "Friends" button. Also, this icon will flicker on the friend who sent you the link.

In order to send a link to a friend, select the desired friend in the “Friends” section of the “Links” tab. Select the "Outbox" tab. Next, add the link to the top link field and click “Add”.

The sent link will fit into the "Outbox" - "New" section. If a friend clicks on the link, the link will move to the "Viewed" section.

Also, a friend can "Like" your link in the link menu. Then the link can be removed. Everyone removes the link for himself separately.

Allow a friend to view your group

You can allow a friend to view any of your groups with links from the "Your Links" section. To do this, go to the group settings section. Click on the button in the form of a user in the line of the required group. A list of your friends will pop up. If the user is already allowed to view the group, then his card will be green.

In the cards of users there will be a button “Add” - allow viewing or “Remove” - prohibit viewing.

With permission to view the group, the user will be able to view your group, including icons, in the "Friends" - "Groups" section. On the left, there will be a pull-down menu listing your friends who have allowed you to view their group.

Any number of friends can be allowed to view the group, there is also no limit on the number of viewed groups.

Link boxes

Boxes with links is a page with a group of links and has a public address from the Internet. For example, you need to leave a list of links on a forum, blog or youtube. But at the same time you go to edit this list later. You also want to know how many users were interested in the links. Then the Link Boxing tool is what you need.

The interface is similar to the rest of the sections. Each group in the “Link Box” section is a separate box. Which has an independent address.

Each box has a text block in which you can place text information. Information will also be available at the boxing address.

To the right of the box address there is a counter of transitions to this address, as well as buttons for controlling the counter. Also, each link has a conversion counter separately.

Links to the box are added in the same way as in other sections. In the upper input field of the link and clicking the add button.

You can also add subgroups to the box - if there are many links and you want to organize them for ease of viewing.

Feed

Feed of new public links of users you follow

A feed is a continuous list of links from users you follow. Links are added from new to old. The ribbon is displayed with auto-loading data.

View all public links of a specific user

The section provides a list of all public users that you are subscribed to. The list is located in the left pop-up window. In the upper right corner there are window control icons:

Freeze users window. If the window is not docked, it will automatically close when a user is selected. This is for convenience.

Close the users window.

By clicking on a user, you select the mode of viewing public links / groups / subgroups of this user. The link display is similar to the “Your Links” section.

Search for public users

The section displays in the form of a list all public users to which you can subscribe. If the section is empty, there are no public users. The users you follow are also not displayed in the section.

The user card consists of an avatar, a login and 2 buttons:

Add user
View user

If you do not want to add a user yet, but want to see his open links, click on the view button. You will be taken to the “Feed/User” section where the user's links will be displayed as if you added a user.

Public links

The section is similar in functionality to the “Your Links” section, but all added links become public. This means that other users can subscribe to you in the "Feed" section and view your public links.

In order for public links to become available to other users for viewing, their count must be at least 20.

User profile

All site and user settings are in one place - the user profile page. The page is entered via the link in the form of a username located in the upper left part of the site.

The page contains the following sections:

Location
Avatar
Miscellaneous
Timezone
Authentication
Encryption

Location

User location. Along with your avatar and login, this information serves as your additional identification for someone who wants to add you as a friend.

By default, detection is performed automatically by ip address. If you want to change the data, you can enter the new information and click the save button. The button define is designed to determine your location by the current ip. To save the result, you must also click the save button.

Avatar

Your avatar is displayed for friends.

To download an avatar, click the download button - under the current avatar. In the window that appears, click on the "File not selected" field. In the standard file selection window - select the picture file and click OK. The picture will be uploaded to the browser (but not to the server). The preview caption on the picture means that the picture has been loaded for viewing in the browser.

If you are not satisfied with the picture, repeat the procedure. Clicking on the field where instead of the phrase “File not selected” will be the name of the currently selected file. Next, select a new picture and click OK.

If you are satisfied with the result of the picture as an avatar, click the download button. The picture will be saved to the server.

Miscellaneous

The section consists of 1 setting. Display date in links. When you check the box, the date the link was added will be displayed everywhere in the links. Also the date will be in the downloadable link files.

Timezone

Setting the date display in links.

American (clicked)
European

Winter/summer time.

Auto - summer/winter time is switched automatically
Winter - fixed winter time
Summer - fixed summer time. Time zone + 1 hour

The choice of time zone is made in the drop-down menu. After setting the parameters - click the “save” button.

Authentication

After registration, you can always change your username and/or password. Change/add/remove email.

To do this, enter the old password and new password/email/login.

You don't have to enter mail. When entering mail, the following functionality is available:

Entering mail instead of login during authorization
Password recovery for email
Events by mail. For example, a friend sends you a link

Encryption

The encryption point can provide 2 types of settings, depending on whether the encryption key is entered into the browser or not.

If no local encryption key is entered. Then the functionality is provided - removing the encryption key from the server.

This step is necessary in cases when the encryption mode is set on the server, but you forgot the key. In this case, in order to load a new key, you must delete the old one. All encrypted data will be deleted along with the key. If they are. Because there is no way to decrypt them - the data is a meaningless set of bytes.

If the encryption mode is not set on the server, then when you click on the delete button, no action will be taken.

If a liquid encryption key is entered in the browser. In this case, the functionality of changing the current encryption key will be provided.

To do this, enter the old key. Enter a new key. Click save.

The server will download all encrypted data to your browser. The data will be re-encrypted there. Then loaded back. Attention, do not interrupt the process! Otherwise, data loss may occur.