MiniGuid

A Guid value-type that converts to and from 26-char alphabetic strings - like ShortGuid, but better.

Good for URLs!

Readability

MiniGuid.ToString()	Guid.ToString()
xEykoBBxSwSuDJBZEzNOSFFIMU	6fa7b0bf-6577-4e99-8f73-f64e867fe236
EutvfDtJywUKveRWSFBbsCHpyL	f65227f5-c563-4a9c-9170-67f619702fc5
BukxYWEvDMreXSDoaLSzRDRhkH	437915dd-e9d5-48a2-b3ae-015995f56751
COKwlTfEmgwuRGyfyNMtuPIlNb	b46509e2-61be-45ad-8305-c1cd3a244b39
QxLKubVCxzzuTSKvxxizlZfyyg	054aca55-befc-4673-b095-bdd195ccb8c6

Usage

using MiniGuids;

var miniGuid = MiniGuid.NewGuid();

//implicit conversions (and vice-versa too)
string someString = miniGuid;
Guid someGuid = miniGuid;

//explicit stringifying and parsing
var str = miniGuid.ToString();
var sameMiniGuid = MiniGuid.Parse(str);

//works out-of-the-box with Json.NET, MVC, etc. via TypeConverters
var json = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(new { miniGuid }); //{ "miniGuid": "aaaaaBBBBBcccccDDDDDeeeeeF" }

FAQ

What about ShortGuid?

It's all about readability: ShortGuid compresses to 22 chars by also including numbers and two special characters (_ and -) - this leads to complicated-looking identifiers like _-9g5YdI9A27c_a-2FC00ebQ2.

MiniGuid in comparison always outputs a blob of letters - all in the same character class, and without strange pepperings of underscores etc. It's a trade-off - four more characters, but more regular and digestable: QxLKubVCxzzuTSKvxxizlZfyyg.

Also (not insignificantly) MiniGuid is nicely hosted on GitHub, nicely packaged with implicit conversions etc, and (drumroll) compatible with .NET Standard.