hyperlink preview feature: Firefox

[unlokia]

Hey guys! :D

I think it would be GREAT to have a feature within firefox, whereby you could hover your mouse over a hyperlink, and a bubble would pop out, containing a miniaturised *live* preview image of the page to which the link is pointing.

I know there are various scripts for forums/webpages which do this, but I think it would be a GREAT asset to firefox - having the ability to preview a page without having to load it!.
.
I think it would be best to be able to switch the feature on/off with a button etc

Any comments??

[Patrick K.]

Hey guys! :D

I think it would be GREAT to have a feature within firefox, whereby you could hover your mouse over a hyperlink, and a bubble would pop out, containing a miniaturised *live* preview image of the page to which the link is pointing.

I know there are various scripts for forums/webpages which do this, but I think it would be a GREAT asset to firefox - having the ability to preview a page without having to load it!.

Any comments??


http://www.ask.com/

Hover over the biknocks.

[unlokia]

Yes :) but that is evidently a *script*!. Not ALL the links have previews on that site - my idea would effectively 'suck' the data, through the hyperlink and into the preview bubble, and that would work for ANY hyperlinked link/object etc.

[nandasunu]

Hey guys! :D

I think it would be GREAT to have a feature within firefox, whereby you could hover your mouse over a hyperlink, and a bubble would pop out, containing a miniaturised *live* preview image of the page to which the link is pointing.

Any comments??

here you go: https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/228/ 8)

[unlokia]

YOU GENIUS!!!!!! :D :D :D

:( my 'invention' was none too original LOL

that extension DOES NOT work with 2.0 >

Have the developers fallen asleep on this extension??? It is SO old!!

[Mr. Picklesworth]

I'm using Cooliris Previews here. They're good.
Unfortunately, you can't adjust the size of the preview window and the preview window looks a bit ugly, but it's quite good so far :)

[unlokia]

I think a proper "mini-size" browser window could pop up, containing within itself all the functionality of a full size window - therefore if you hovered... saw a link in the mini-PREVIEW box that you wanted, you would click on the link displayed in the mini-preview, and a FULL tab/window/etc would open with the page referred to by the link that you clicked, be it one you clicked on a FULL window OR a preview!!

[update] Cooliris is the idea I had, YES, but too big and doesn't open automatically. I reckon if you had a mini browser pop up (a cute lil firefox... awwwww :)) and then if you like what you see, you roll your mouse wheel to zoom (+) or (-) in or out, or PUSH the wheel in to convert it into a 'PROPER' fully fledged tab/etc.

:D I think this is going somewhere!

PS: am I just too fussy, or is this 'Cooliris' too slow? the idea of a thumbnail size window is that it loads quicker, otherwise the object of the preview is defeated, and the user could as easily load a FULL window in this amount of time!!.

[jdong]

It's gonna be a slow feature. Not only do you have to render fully the page, you gotta then screenshot it, and then scale it down to thumbnail size :)

The usefulness is probably all taken out of it. Not to mention previewing, say, a logout or "buy now" link might lead to really unwanted results :D

[Mr. Picklesworth]

Cooliris is useful in that it gives an alternative to opening new tabs or windows, letting you quickly glance at a page then close it with very little fuss.

[Mr. Picklesworth]

Oooh, here's a nice discovery!

It turns out you can set the size of previews in Coloris; just not in the options.
Simply click and drag the little resizing thing at the bottom right of its preview windows and it will remember that size forever :)

[d3v1ant_0n3]

Quite a cool find!

Does anyone know if there is an extension that provides thumbnails of tabs in firefox? Would be handy with lots of tabs...

*EDIT* I found this (https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/2134/) extension. It's not exactly what I wanted but pretty cool.