Improvements to the Link Preview feature

laiz

joystmp create a introductory customisation workflow

Where and how would that be used? I don't think a new user should be forced into a lengthy tutorial as soon as they launch Orion for the first time. This often results in random clicking until they get rid of the popups and are able to do what they wanted to do. A tutorial like that could take place when the Link Preview is first used.

My other concern is the amout of developer time and design work such tutorials would take.
Neverthesless, I agree that having polished and intuitive tutorials in place would be beneficial to some users.

Vlad we can simply ask on first use if they want to open in link preview or in new tab?

I'd argue this also carries the same risk of the user getting an unexpected popup that they will solve by clicking and not reading. At least that appears to be the case when I observe the typical users using programs. However, that would still be a notable improvement to the current approach.

There could still be a banner present in the preview windows until the user chooses to hide it. This would be an ideal way of instructing the new users, and drastically reduce the number of bug reports we receive about this feature.

If that is the chosen route, the dialogue could be:

Orion allows you to view extenal links in a Link Preview Window.
This feature is intended to be faster than opening tabs in the browser.
You can configure this behavior later in Orion settings -> Browsing.

Choose default behavior:
[Open External Links in Preview Windows] [Open External Links as New Tabs]

alanjay

I use mimestream when I set Orion as the default browser it opens web links as internal pop up windows and not in the browser. Right clicking and opening Orion works as expected when not the default browser. However if you set it to be default it opens the link in a pop up window.

This is not what I expect and not what happens when Orion is not the default broswer where it loads into the default browser directly. Not sure if this is an Orion bug or the way that Mimestream treats links but it doesn't happen when the default browser is set to Safari or Brave so looks like it is a requested idea having this be a choice option would be fine and for loading logins it works well but for loading web pages its very very annoying.

open web page in browser TAB

ersion 0.99.130.2-beta (WebKit 621.1.2.111.4)

Sequoia (15)

laiz

Hey! This is an intended feature called Link Preview. You have a couple of options:

Disable the feature completely in Settings
Alternatively, you can shift+click the links in external programs to open them in new tabs
You can also expand the preview windows into full tabs by pressing ⌘+T or the arrow symbol in the top right corner of the preview window.

alanjay

Thanks - that works as expected - spent ages searching for a setting as I assumed there was one but didn't realise this was what was required. Might I suggest in the preview either a message "⌘+T to open in browser", I now know that the top right arrow button does this but it says to me make "full screen" and not open in browser.

Having it load the preview is sometimes really useful but if you don't know the "⌘+T" or that the arrow means open in browser then its slightly frustrating.

I have been using Orion for the last coulple of days after hearing the discussion about it on The Talk Show with John Gruber and would like to congratulate all involed it was described by Vlad as the browser he wanted with the best of everything and so far I think you might have delivered.

laiz

alanjay Might I suggest in the preview either a message "⌘+T to open in browser"

Orion has a banner like this for when the user has applied page tweaks (changed the font, or, more commonly, hidden an element on the page). Perhaps something like this could be displayed in the preview window, alongside the "Don't show again" toggle. I believe that could be a user-friendly way of doing it – what do you think?

alanjay

I'm not sure what the correct behaviour should be but I do think a little more clarity would be useful for new users.

In QuickLook on the Mac there is a button what in words says (Open with Preview/etc) and maybe something as simple as Open in Orion in words is what is needed on the top RHS with the full screen icon 🙂

willett

Understand the idea, but I’m sorry, this is a bug, not a feature.

Today I clicked from a link in mail into (default: MacOS Orion) which led to Orion displaying the first page in a viewer window, of 6 pages of questions, each with blanks a “next” button to continue to answer more questions. Orion happily let me keep typing thoughtful answers and clicking on my “next”s. After page 5, I clicked away from viewer window to my address book to get info, and all my five pages of responses disappeared into the bitbucket. No way to return nor retrieve all my laborious replies. Definitely a bug. And not the way other default browsers behave.

Siggestion1 (preferred) when user clicks on any URL, the default browser opens, not a pop up viewer. If you don’t want to see more, just close the browser. If you keep interacting with that web page, you’re good. No terror of stray clicks.

Suggestion 2: (second best) if you have to open a web link as a viewer screen, any interaction with that page should automatically pop user into browser window. Just sending the user a (go into browser) line in the viewer header is no excuse for killing what the user has been working on..

Thanks,

Willett Kempton

laiz

@alanjay @willett Thank you for your feedback. I have made a suggestion for improving the feature here: https://orionfeedback.org/d/9504
Your feedback would be extremely valuable, and I invite you to share your thoughts in that thread.

willett

Vlad Reasonable solution. I would definately read this if it opened the first time I clicked on a link when using a new browser.

Suggested tweaks to laiz's text after first click (bold for new/changed text):

Orion allows you to view extenal links in a Link Preview Window or browser tab.
Preview typically is faster, browser tab gives full interaction with the linked material.
You can configure default behavior below or later in Orion settings -> Browsing.

Choose default behavior:
[Open External Links in Preview Windows] [Open External Links as New Tabs][New tab now, but ask again]

CawlinTeffid

I’d go much briefer with the banner text, more like:

Link preview — [Open in browser] • [Settings]

(The length of the “choose default” text is OK.)