On a limited number of blogs, about 10% we’re testing out a plugin that allows you to have Snap Preview Anywhere (SPA for short) enabled on your blog. SPA is a little widget that shows people a preview of the page on the other end of a link when they hover over it for a few seconds.
I tried it out on my personal blog and really liked it, we’ve had a fair number of requests for it, and we think the Snap guys are fun to work with so we thought we’d give it a go here on WP.com.
If you’re a lucky member of the beta group be sure to send in your feedback about what you think about it to help shape how/if we roll this out for everyone.
Finally if for whatever reason you dislike it, you can disable it for your blog under Presentation > Extras. If you never want to see it again anywhere in the world on any site click on the question mark in the preview box and they have a link that sets a cookie so it won’t show up anymore.
Update: If Snap isn’t on your blog or you only saw it briefly, don’t worry. If you like it just leave a comment and you’ll be first in line for the next stage of testing.
WordPress.com News 
Hey Matt! I would love to help you test this feature, if you could only flip a switch somewhere….
Best to you. Thanks for all you do!
Amazingbrian
I like the idea… however, I (personally) wouldn’t want that feature on all of my links. I’m not sure how Snap works, but would it be possible to have Snap on links that you specify? That would be the only way I’d use it.
There is no snap (SPA) into my blog, but I would be really glad if I could test it next time. Great feature anyway!
Can you put me on the list for trials? thanks.
Hey Gimme!!! or ok ill ask nicely…pretty please with a cherry on top
I personally hate it.
1) It sometime prevents clicks on some links from going through
2) It prevents me from being able to read whatever it lies over
3) It is extremely distracting
4) It does not add much value, since
a) the text in the preview is unreadable
b) the layout of a site says very little of the contents (since only the shrunk version of the page is visible)
c) For links to articles etc on my own blog, the scenery does not really change much, since the design for my blog regardless what page/post/comment you are browsing to.
So how do I turn the damn thing off, then? 🙂
ubuntonista, as it says in the post, you go Presentation > Extras and check the box.
I’d really like to be betatester
i suggest snap would even be better if there is an extra trigger needed for preview to be activated.
i mean for example, a setting that will only allow snap preview to be activated while holding down [rightmouseclick] and mouse-overing a link.
it does not have to be [rightmouseclick], it can be [shift], [control] or another common key.
or maybe even a double right click.
maybe this is not the right place for snap suggestions.
and for the record, i want snap on my blog, even better if i can be on the nest snap beta test.
I noticed it today, and I find it very useful. If I should get significant feedback from my readers I’ll let you know. Thanks a lot folks, and happy new year!
Hey Matt, can I have the damn thing from ‘ubuntonista’ since he won’t be using his anymore? 🙂 😉 hehehe Thanks, much appreciated.
I just glimpsed it for a brief instant on my blog, and I deemed it a nice special effect.
But I can see also ubuntonista’s reasons… So, it is good as it is: implement it with a box to disactivate it for those who do not like it…
🙂
I like it to!!! Come on, give it to me.
Hopefully it will be soon out of beta so everybody will have it…including me 🙂
OMG!!!!!! I totally love this!! You gotta make it available to everyone!!!!! 🙂
I love testing new features, and I would love to test this one.
Feed back time
i have had a few days to play with SPA and I like it, this should be made available on more than just here, there are so many places were you think you are clicking on a lagitimate link only to find yourself knee deap in … well things you realy dont want to be knee deap in. With this users get a chance to see exacly were the link will take you so you do have the optiuon of going there or not. A definate plus and something which I feel will add to the lagitamatcy of any site which has links.
Best Christmas pressy i received this year. I want to keep it please.
I’ve seen this elsewhere online, alifeonline is not one of the Beta testers but I want it!
Just wanna say thanks for having me in the beta test..
this is the coolest thing I’ve seen in a looong time–thanks!
I want to be next. Please!
Thanks
love a chance to give it a test
Cant wait for those extra tabs showing on my admin page. Thanks Matt!
I was excited by the shinyness at first, but I have to say that I’ve disabled it on my blog now, following Lorelle’s advice. I hadn’t considered the accessibility and performance issues.
But – thanks for giving us the option, guys!
I liked it very mouch guys!
Thanks for havinf me in this 10% selected group!
It’s a lovely add-on. I’m glad to be in the beta-group and would appreciate it greatly if I could continue to use this…
cheers
Lunken
I like to be in the next testers
good job keep going
Hi!
First of all I want to say that I maintain several blogs, and WordPress is by far the most reliable blog I have ever been on. Kudos, and thanks for the wonderful service. Hope all you guys become multi-millionaires. This is a really cool feature. Would it be too hard to create the same thing that would pop up text of our choosing? For example, if one were to hover over a word that I have linked to text that expands on that topic, opening a small box to read the additional info? I hope this makes sense. An example would be: if I had an article that had a word that I would like someone to know the definition of, I could tag that word, and put the definition in a box so that when someone hovered thier cursor over the word, the definition would pop up, just like you do these.
Thanks a bunch for being the best blog site around.
-j
i need it tooo…..
tx
Oops, sorry Matt – I should have read the post better for directions to turn it off. I appreciate your patience in answering my question again, without pointing out what a jerk I was.
Sounds nice…
It’s enough for me to switch to TypePad if I can’t get it on WordPress. Please put me on the next round to get it.
Love it.
I WANT SNAP!
Hey Matt, could I please have this on my blog? 🙂 I really like this feature. Thanks!
looks neat and handy
hey, I’d like it too. I have it installed on my blogger blog (:P) – but I’d love to have it here as well.
i have seen this plugin at my friend’s blog
it is a SUPER COOL feature
i want it in my blog please wordpress
happy new year everybody
Hey, I just discovered I had it. Thanks a lot guys. Made my day!
I just discovered this on my site and I’m very impressed! I like the idea a lot; I think it would be a good optional extra for the future.
If only this had been around back in the fake-link-to-Tubgirl days… my eyes have never been the same 😦
I’ve seen the Snap Preview on a few of the blogs and it is awesome! Cant’t wait for a full scale roll out.
I’m still waiting to be snap…..:)
I have this on my blog and I think it is awesome!
i love this website its so cool
Sounds like a cool idea. I’d
like to try it out!
Snap Preview anywhere rocks!!!
The only other big site I’ve seen using it is TechCrunch and would like to try it out as well.
I also would like to try this widget. Please get me in.
Would be very useful {:
Hello,
I would like to try snap
thank you
Nice little widget, works great on my wordpress.com site…Good work people
i love the snap preview. ever since i first saw it on TechCrunch i thought it was so handy. i can’t wait to have this on my account.
I think it’s a nifty hover-over.
Please include me in the next roll-out.
works for me! Ive always wanted to try it out, but the original code was in java. I was lucky enough to be in the test group. Two thumbs up!
I finally found a page using the new feature and it is really great to see that script being used here. Hope you keep it!
would you please give me a chance to try? 🙂
Hello there Matt. Are you still reading this list? If so, I would like to ask you once more. Done this a few times already. Would you please activate ‘snap preview’ on my account? Thanks!
I think the Snap Preview is very useful – great job!
Yes I’d like to “Snap to It!”
Don’t have it. Looks exciting… I want it! Please?
Hi Guys, will you add this feature to all blogs?
Hope to see more of it around. Really makes the “to click or not to click” decision much easier to make.
perfect! i wanna try this!
I would like to try it.
include me also in the next release
I’d love to have it on my blog! Please pretty please!!
Interesting feature. I’d like to try it on my blog … thanks.
Please add me to the list of those who want to try it!
i had snap preview but its gone now?
i am not part of your beta, but we use it on other blogs in typepad… works well and like it
I want to be able to use it as well without going through all the steps. Widget please.
I like it… I want in.
Yep – I definitely want snap! Please put me on the list!
I would really like to try out this beta feature. Please include sturmwolf.wordpress.com the next time you add blogs to the test group! Thanks in advance!
I just discovered this on my blog after a bit of a hiatus — had never encountered it elsewhere.
It seems like a great idea — for links to other websites.
For photos, however — I think it is a bit confusing, like that old “picture in picture” television concept. Instead of my “alt” labels appearing (and I sometimes put messages in my alt labels) there is another pic of my pic.
If there were a way to use it on regular links, and not on photos, I would say it’s an awesome tool.
great!
I love it! Keep up the great work! I’m glad I’m one of the lucky one’s that is part of the test group.
I’ve got it running on my WP blog and its really nice!
I love It. Really gives the blog a nice touch.
2 weeks ago I was surprised by the fly tags awesome !!!
Hi! I’m Spanish and I’ve got your template in my blog but i’ve not got the beta Word Press so, When will be it SNAP for no beta wordpress users? Do you know about this theme?
Thanks and excuse me for my english
bye 🙂
Super idea. I wasn’t one of the lucky folks but then I haven’t been doing much posting…almost none to say the least. I plan to fix that this year. Again, it’s a wonderful idea.
Can I get this on my blog? I do a lot of linking…
I’m with outofthegarden. It would be a very nice update to block the previews for pictures, like it happens with the links on the sidebar.
Cheers. And thanks for all the great work done over the years.
No thank you, I did not like it.
In general, programs that suddenly appear without asking are annoying and intruding (“you can uninstall snap, but if you delete your cookies it will show up again” – or something like that) so I sure did not appreciate my “lucky number”.
i am glad to be the chosen. My friend came along and wondered, how can i have it on my blog.
he he he 🙂
i love it !!!
i wasn’t one of the lucky guinea pigs…
i like … i’m in a waiting line … well, i guess you can get all the luck all the time 🙂 … keep on good word, ehm, i mean work …
Just to add me: I would love to try it out!
oh man i want snaps so bad!
Sign me up! Not fair that people that don’t even use their blogs get it 😦
i love it.
I’d love to have it on my blog: telecompk.wordpress.com
I’ve seen it on one of my regular reads in the past week. I would like to see it on every blog.
How long before we can expect to see a full roll-out?
I would like to have snap preview at the earliest possible moment 🙂 Thanks for the innovation guys.
As I wrote previously, I personally do not like this feature. I have just noticed that as of today this feature is enabled in my blog. So, I went to “Presentation” in order to disable it, but to no avail. Contrary to this post, there is no “Extras” submenu there so I don’t know how to disable this feature.
Hey, thanks for giving me the opportunity to check it out…. I didn’t have access to “snap” before, but just noticed today….. some weeks after its debut that I now have it on my blog. Thanks guys! Interesting feature! 😀
I’ve just discovered it – and like it
Wow, I just encountered the feature on our blog. It’s really nice. I think it will really facilitate and encourage more browsing on the blogs. I think what allansiew said could be true though, if there are a lot of links it might be invasive by popping up all the time. Are there different settings for it?