Snap Preview redux
Wednesday, February 7th, 2007
So it seems the whole Snap Preview outcry is having some effect. TechCrunch has modified how Snap Preview works on their site. Before, any external link would pop-up a little window previewing the site on hover. Now they have moved that feature by inserting an icon to the right of any external links and showing the pop-up on hover of that icon.
Is it an improvement? Yes. Is peace and tranquility restored to the interwebs? No. You can’t take a well intended but bad idea, shift it ten pixels to the right and declare the problem fixed. The idea was bad in the first place; admit it, kill the idea and move on. Now when I read paragraphs on TechCrunch the flow of words is broken. Typography is important. Readability is important. Preview links are not. The icon is meant to be subtle in contrast (it is off-white) but it still takes up 16 pixels of width which throws off gaps between words which is a big no-no in typography and readability.
Ah well. You can still disable the damned thing, until you clear your cookies and have to go disable it again.
