WordPress has introduced a new feature known as “Snap“, which presents you with a snapshot of a webpage when you mouse over links to that page. It only works with sites that have been snap-enabled (like this one, for now). I turned it off on my other blog, SeaStrands, but have left it on here for people to try out and perhaps comment on whether they like it or not.
I don’t, personally. I hate pop-ups in all their manifestations (infestations) and this looks too much like advertising to me.
I’d still be interested in hearing the reactions of others who read this blog, though, as my web thoughts can be somewhat knee-jerk. If most of you like it a lot, I’ll leave it on.
Incidentally, you won’t see this feature if using a feed reader of some sort, so if you also have a WordPress blog (Rexton? Sarai? John?) you might be unaware of this new feature. It’s probably worth examining and deciding if you really want it or not, especially since the default setting is “on”.
Turn it off with the “extras” tab under the “presentation” tab on the desktop.
Cheers!
Raising the Bar Strength & Conditioning 
I use Firefox and it has an add-on called Cool Iris that works the same way over any active link. You can set variables such as delay time so it’s not too annoying.
The idea of a Firefox add-on doesn’t bother me so much because that is an option exercised by the browser. Having the pop-ups embedded in the webpage without giving the browser the option of opting out is what gets my goat. Plugins or scripts that someone uses to facilitate their reading of my page aren’t a problem, as they can be turned off easily and at will by the viewer. Me determining that someone will have every link they mouse-over turn into a pop-up by default strikes me as discourteous on my part. Am I off-base here?
I agree with you, Vicky. I have an Firefox extension that shows the snapshot of the tabs I have open – very helpful when I have too many to see the whole title! But to push it on people is not on. Accessibility and usability are my big things, and these promote neither.
Thanks, Vicky. I was vaguely aware of Snap but didn’t realize they put it on my own blog without telling me. Guess I better wake up and participate more in the blog world again!
Anyway, I am disinclined toward it for the same reasons above: discourteous, distracting, detracting from accessibility and usability. Gone!
I had the same reaction that you did Vicky, and like you, I left “snap” turned on, for the moment anyway, mostly because of all the raves in the WP forum.
My guess is that for the reader who jumps from site to site, “snap” is convenient. For those thoughtful readers who would like to read through a whole post without little windows popping up, snap is an annoyance.
I found out how to turn off the Snap effect (as a reader, that is). It’s on the Snap site FAQ:
http://www.snap.com/about/spa_faq.php#2