Link preview popup (like Safari on iOS)

[KERR]

I often end up down rabbit holes when browsing, especially on desktop! Tree Style Tabs helps with this as it shows the parent/child relationship for my opened tabs.

For example, I'll do a web search, and middle-click (to open in new tab) a bunch of search results. I then go through each tab, do my research (often I need just a small bit of info from each site) then close the tabs. Sometimes the tabs I've opened turn out to be duds too (not the right info I need).

Safari on iPad (maybe on iPhone too??) has a neat feature that lets you preview links in a popup window:

I'd love to see this in Firefox too, especially desktop version. I liken it to wikipedia, I used to end up opening so many wiki articles/tabs before they implemented their preview feature:

Thanks!

[Jon]

Thanks for submitting an idea to the Mozilla Connect community! Your idea is now open to votes (aka kudos) and comments.

[Anonymous]

@KERR @Jon Hi! How are you guys? good idea

[atodepoweroftwo]

That would be awesome if we can see preview of a web page without opening it only through locating the mouse pointer on the text including a link or the link itself(apple's 3d touch but on pc).

Firefox  

[Jon]

Thanks for submitting an idea to the Mozilla Connect community! Your idea is now open to votes (aka kudos) and comments.

[Jon]

If I understand correctly, there's a similar idea here: Link preview popup (like Safari on iOS) 

[atodepoweroftwo]

@JonYeah, my bad! I should have checked it.

[Jon]

@atodepoweroftwo all good! Just wanted to confirm. I'll merge the two ideas/threads to keep the conversation focused in one space.

[Flecca]

I agree HEAVILY. I used this feature alot on my iphone but recently switched to android and I was sad to see its not available on firefox mobile. The implementation on safari was great but I have been playing around with chrome on android and I think it is good too, but if firefox refines it, it could be the best of the three. I like how chrome lets you surf the previewed page as though you opened an all new tab, but retains the ability to swipe it away and continue on the original page. What I dont like is the amount of steps it takes to get there. In safari, all you do is long press and the preview displays, no drop down menu getting in the way of the flow of my browsing. I think it would be great if we could have the best of both worlds, plus some new features. Maybe it could have a floating button above the preview where a context menu can be opened when touched and, among other options - an 'open in split tab' allows you to open the previewed link in some sort of split screen (multitask) view which allows you to view both tabs each taking up two halves of the screen.

My opinion is safari has the smoothest implementation but chrome has the most useful. I think this feature desperately needs refinement and firefox is the most refined browser experience, its a perfect match and the perfect place to marry the best of both and improve it even further.

Below is a series of steps it takes to open link preview on chrome. I tapped and held the black flight jacket, which opens the drop down menu allowing me to select the preview. The final picture shows what the preview looks like.

 

 

 

[Bohemax]

Zen Browser has something like this called Zen Glance. It's really very useful feature. It enables you to be able to see your search results without opening every websites and it's really very convenient. I don't understand why browsers don't have such a simple feature natively!

[Jon]

Hey all,

Our team is working on an experimental feature like this, and it's currently available to test in Firefox Labs on Nightly and Beta. If you're interested in learning more and sharing your feedback, we kicked off a discussion thread here:

Try out Link Previews in Firefox Labs 138 and share your feedback with us! 

Hope to see ya there 🙌