Comments on: Snap Previews: Yay or Nay

By: typo180

typo180 — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 19:30:32 +0000

It’s late in the game, but I don’t like Snap previews at all. The concept is good, but the high potential for accidental mouse-overs kills it. I don’t like little boxes popping up all over while I’m reading and especially when I’m skimming through a page.

By: wheat

wheat — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 20:56:34 +0000

At first I really hated them, but I didn’t realize then that end users can disable them globally or on a site-by-site basis. So there’s no need to have a Firefox plugin (like flashblock) for them as any user can disable them. I think pop-up ads have made users very sensitive to unsolicited windows appearing. So what once would have been considered a nice new feature will have to fight an uphill battle. Kudos to Snap for giving users the ability to block them. I’ve already blocked them for this site.

Personally, I hover links and read the status bar before jumping to a site. That generally gives me all the info I need. I increasingly read sites via RSS, so things like this aren’t much of a distraction.

By: davidholbrook

davidholbrook — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 06:34:19 +0000

I don’t know why but some how they ethire remind me of (as said above) the annoying green “pop-up” ads or the old pop-up window that they use to have (and may still have) in anglefire for free accounts. Also it seems that the snap previews can be easily confuse with pop-up advertising because most modern browsers block popup windows, so now insead marketers are trying to go after AJAX type pop-up “fill your screen” advertising that goes over everything (including content). I think that if snap previews where smaller and somehow more out of the way (like somehow on the sidebar) I could get along with them better but for right now it just seems to much of a advertiser scheme.

By: Jon

Jon — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 03:51:35 +0000

It doesn’t give enough info to make a decision (beyond “the jump site doesn’t look bad). So there isn’t much real enhancement to the user experience. And therefore becomes more of an irritation.
Also, I trust this site…trust that the info will be pretty relevant to me and that any jump will also be, that’s why I’m here in the first place. So I don’t feel any need to “double check” where I might jump with a snap preview.
I think it would be more relevant and worthwhile on Google (like Richard said in the first comment) somewhere I don’t trust too much but still end up all the time.
There was or maybe still is a Firefox add-on that created Google previews next to each search result and it was fantastic, but became buggy and I had to disable it. There is also an add-on called Coolaris (Sp?) Previews it actually was a full size “snap preview” of sorts that you could actually use (scroll, click links, etc.) it was pretty sweet too, however the constant “popping up” everywhere was giving me a headache.

By: woneffe

woneffe — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 00:53:36 +0000

It doesn’t even show an accurate view of the linked site. The link to my site above is showing a capture of it from almost two months ago. I’ve tweaked the look a bit since then.

By: woneffe

woneffe — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 00:51:20 +0000

Is there some connection between people who hate the previews, and people who donâ€™t use images in their blogs?

I say no. I’m very visual too, and I like blogs that try to have an image in every post, and I’m someone who tries for the same. But I can’t stand these pop ups. They are pretty much as annoying as pop up ads. I don’t like that when I move my cursor across the screen I have these things popping up. It’s an action that I didn’t choose and didn’t want.

As for them being a way of knowing if you want to go to a site or not… The person linking you to the site should be the one letting you know the sites worth. If a site isn’t worth visiting, the author maybe shouldn’t link to it. I know ahead of time from the blog I’m reading and my history with the author if they usually send me to good links or not.

By: Maximillian

Maximillian — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 18:17:39 +0000

Big nay.

By: Jim

Jim — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 14:23:51 +0000

Second only to the “link advertising” (where you don’t know if you’re clicking a relevant link, or an ad) in the annoyance factor. I’ve turned them off on all sites.

By: Josh

Josh — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 07:45:14 +0000

I’m not a fan. It’s about as bad as those stupid ad banners that feel like expanding over the content you’re actually trying to get at.

By: nic sizzle

nic sizzle — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 05:18:01 +0000

nay say i.

By: Yong Hwee

Yong Hwee — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 01:28:53 +0000

A little annoying but I’m using it on my blog.. =)

By: Ross Graham

Ross Graham — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 22:46:03 +0000

They’re certainly not as annoying as popup advertising. I didn’t know about the method to disable them for all sites, and just took care of that. Thanks for the tip.

I probably won’t mind visiting sites with them at all anymore. :)

By: John Arnor G. Lom

John Arnor G. Lom — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 04:24:10 +0000

I’m a nay-sayer on them, really… I too can see the appeal, but to me, they are simply annoying…

By: liz

liz — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 01:59:27 +0000

I’m not really a fan of them either, but I can see how they can be appealing to others.

By: Kelly

Kelly — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 00:37:58 +0000

I find them annoying, but wouldn’t resort to not reading a site over them. I’m so used to forcing links into new tabs for quick views that this is not something I find useful. Also, it’s a bit disconcerting when you are not expecting it.

By: JOhn

JOhn — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 00:35:55 +0000

Personally, I dig it. Just a quick peak into the possible future. I might even save some time if the link goes somewhere I have already been. That’s my 2 cents.

By: Richard

Richard — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 23:55:53 +0000

I’m not a particularly big fan, they change the standard user experience on some sites, but not others. It would be about a million times better if Snap focused their attention on integrating the technology with the browser, as Firefox or Safari plugins or what not.

Although that said, I certainly do not hate them, and have once or twice found them useful here on your blog. It’s just annoying when you then expect that behavior on other sites and don’t get it.

Something this made me think about – how good would it be if Google had screenshots of websites next to their title and description in the search results? I’d enjoy that much more.

All the best,
Richard