it's not just grumpy old fartness, i swear

[sophiaserpentia]

So i'm seeing more and more links on LJ which include Snap Shots. These serve no discernible purpose other than bling. It's not like the preview you get of the page in question is readable, or is going to make any difference in whether or not you click the link. In fact, i find they slow me down, because they make me pause before clicking a link i was going to use.

[Poll #1081038]

Comments

[legolastn.livejournal.com]

I've seen this um, feature, on other web sites and kind of liked it, and only recently have seen it here and there on LJ, but didn't realize why. I can see why it might be annoying to some, but I've decided to give it a fair shake and see if I really think it enhances my web browsing experience.

[sophiaserpentia.livejournal.com]

I think the concept has potential, so i worried that my negative reaction was simply a knee-jerk opposition to anything new. My objection would be assuaged if only the little pop-up gave something truly useful.

Mouseover links seem to be the new detritus on the information superhighway. The ones that show up in the text of email messages on Yahoo seem to be actually useful; however, when they show up under random words and phrases on various other pages (often with the text stolen straight from Wikipedia), they seem... i don't know, kind of alien, like the product of a non-human intelligence.

[guttaperk.livejournal.com]

Where the popup is able to convey useful, wanted information, sure; where the popup is clearly not useful (as in this case), or where the information is quite unwanted (e.g. most advertisements), no fair shake is required.

[legolastn.livejournal.com]

It's not yet clear to me that these pop-ups are mostly un-useful for me, since in some of the few instances I have seen them they have conveyed information such as "you really don't want to waste your time clicking on this link" or "this link is more interesting than it looks." The question for me is what downsides I experience and whether they outweigh any possible benefits. Some potential downsides to be on the lookout for being already outlined by Sabrina.