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Doorbell

Features

Everything a Link can do

A Link is the one thing you share. Its short URL and QR code are two interfaces to it; everything below is a setting on that one object, and every setting can change after the fact.

01Short links and QR codes

Two doors, one Link

Paste a URL and you get both: a short address you can read out loud and a QR code you can print at any size. Custom addresses from two characters; generated ones avoid look-alike letters.

The QR encodes the short URL, never the destination. Scans carry a marker, so scans and taps are reported separately. Export SVG for print and PNG for everything else.

QR code encoding https://drbl.me/menu?s=qr
drbl.me/menu

The same Link. Scan or tap; the dashboard tells you which.

?s=qrmarks a scan; it is stripped before the visitor arrives.
A real code from the same generator the dashboard uses. It encodes the short URL with a scan marker.

02Change it later

Versions you can restore

Every change to a Link, from a new destination to a new rule, is saved as a version with a summary. Restore an earlier one and it becomes a new version on top, so history is never rewritten.

Renaming an address keeps the old one working as an alias. Deleting a Link retires its address for good. Printed codes never break.

Autumn menu
Active
drbl.me/menu
Right now →
Lunch menu
Next change →
Dinner menu · 16:00 Europe/London
Opens · 7 days →
312
last 7 days
Versions
  1. v4Dinner menu moved to the new PDF
    Current
  2. v3Schedule: breakfast, lunch and dinner by time of day
    Restore
  3. v2Lunch menu replaced
    Restore
  4. v1Created
    Restore

Restoring an earlier version creates a new one, so nothing is ever lost.

Example Link with its version history.

03Schedule

Switch on a date, or repeat by time of day

Two presets cover most of it. Switch on a date chains phases: waitlist until launch day, product page from then on. Repeat by time of day sets hours: breakfast, lunch and dinner menus behind one code on the table.

Times are on the wall clock of the Link's own timezone, daylight saving included. The dashboard always tells you what is live right now and when the next change happens.

Repeat by time of dayEurope/London

  1. Breakfast
  2. Lunch
  3. Dinner

Gaps go to the default destination. Overnight windows are fine.

Switch on a date

  1. 1Until 1 Oct →Waitlist
  2. 2From 1 Oct →Product page

Right now → Lunch · next change → Dinner at 16:00

Both presets are ordinary rules underneath, so they combine with everything else.

04Smart routing

Rules that read WHEN, THEN

Route by country, device type, operating system, date range or time window; up to five conditions per rule, all of which must hold. Rules run in order and the first match wins; anything unmatched goes to the default destination.

The same engine answers the dashboard's test-visitor tool and every real request, so what you test is what visitors get.

  1. 1
    WhenOperating system is iOS
    ThenApp Store
  2. 2
    WhenOperating system is Android
    ThenGoogle Play
  3. 3
    WhenCountry is FR, BE or CHandDevice is mobile
    ThenFrench site
  4. OtherwiseThenWebsite
Test visitoriPhoneFrance→App Store(rule 1 matched first)
The rules builder's rows and its test-visitor line.

05Expiry, open limits, passwords

Decide when a Link stops

Expire at a preset (an hour, tonight, 24 hours, a week, a month) or at a time of your choosing. Allow one open for a private preview or fifty for a small giveaway; the count is shown as it grows and can be reset.

Ask for a password when it matters. It is stored as a hash and never shown again. Afterwards, visitors see the expired page, your own message, a redirect or a 404, your choice.

Open limits are soft by design: they count human visitors, not scanners, and a forwarded one-time link may be opened by a preview bot before the recipient. The dashboard says so too.

ExpiresTonight, 23:59 · Europe/London
Never1 hTonight24 h7 d30 dCustom

Afterwards: show the expired page. Or a message, a redirect or a 404.

Opens7 of 10 used
No limitOne-time51050Custom
PasswordRequired
Stored as a hash, never shown again. Change it and every visitor asks afresh.
The access and expiry card with its presets.

06Pages and bundles

A light page, or a bundle of destinations

Instead of redirecting straight away, show a page: a title, a line of context, an image and a button. Or a bundle: one button per destination, each tracked on its own.

Six templates to start from, an appearance built from tokens (colours, font, button style, corner radius) and no custom code, ever, which is why pages stay fast and safe. The “Made with Doorbell” line is on by default and yours to switch off.

Preview of a bundle page titled Ferry Lane Bakery with four buttons: pre-order for Saturday, this week's menu, find the stall and say hello, plus a Made with Doorbell line.

Rendered by the same renderer visitors see.

07Analytics

Numbers that lead to an action

Per Link and across the workspace: opens, unique visitors, QR share, destination clicks, and breakdowns by source, country, device and operating system. Ranges from 24 hours to all time, each compared with the period before.

Unique visitors are counted per day with a key that rotates daily, so a person is one visitor today and a fresh one tomorrow. That keeps counts honest without keeping anyone's identity. How analytics work.

Opens · 7 days

1,284

▲ +12% vs the 7 days before

Unique visitors · 7 days

906

▲ +8% vs the 7 days before

QR share · 7 days

62%

796 QR scans

Bot requests

31

Recorded, excluded from every figure above

Sources

Where the last 1,284 opens came from

  1. QR796 · 62%
  2. Direct270 · 21%
  3. WhatsApp116 · 9%
  4. Instagram64 · 5%
  5. Other38 · 3%
Example figures in the dashboard's own tiles.

08The quieter features

The ones you notice when they are missing

Status, health and the machinery that keeps a shared link honest.

  • Pause, resume, archive

    Take a Link out of service without deleting it: paused visitors see a plain notice, and resuming puts it straight back. Archiving keeps it out of the way while its address stays retired.

  • Health checks and notifications

    Destinations are checked in the background. Two failures in a row mark a Link as broken on the dashboard and in your notifications; it recovers on the first good check.

  • Abuse protection

    Destinations can be checked against Google Safe Browsing. A suspicious Link shows a warning page before redirecting, and anyone can report a Link from there. Rate limits keep spam out.

  • An API for all of it

    Everything the dashboard does is a call to the same API, from creating Links to reading analytics, so you can script the boring parts.

Every feature, free, from the first Link.

No plans and no gates. See the pricing page if you want it in writing.

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