Ken Yarmosh compares web preview tools Snap & Cooliris, both let you see the snapshot of the site you may visit before clicking on a link, but one is server based and the other a browser extension.
Ask.com uses a similar technique with their Ask.com binoculars which lets a user preview the pages listed in search results without clicking over. Snap is also a search engine but has exported out their technology to publishers, especially bloggers, who want to use the preview tools on their sites. By doing so, Snap (formerly an NBC owned search directory) has virally rebuilt their brand amongst bloggers & blog readers.
While Snap represents more of a server-side architecture, Cooliris is a browser extension/add-on that powers a similar feature. In this case, the user (client-side) has more control - and Cooliris also doesn’t load for every single external link, you need to hover over a link and then click the blue box next to it to show the preview. Cooliris will then load a full screen of the actual web page.
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3 responses so far ↓
The Cooliris Team on Jan 10, 2007 at 11:19 pm
Hi Loren:
Thanks a bunch for writing about previewers including Cooliris. We really appreciate it.
While Cooliris and Snap provide previews for the user, the intended benefit of Cooliris is to allow the user to browse faster. Many use Cooliris to quickly fly through search results, news, eBay, and even webmail (yahoo, comcast — sorry, no gmail yet). Cooliris preference settings also allow one to choose whether or not to prefetch all weblinks, as well as how to toggle the preview (hover, mouseover, single-click, etc.).
Thanks, again.
Very best regards,
Alec & The Cooliris Team
http://www.cooliris.com — preview and send links instantly
http://www.piclens.com — cinematic views for the web
Jason Fields on Jan 19, 2007 at 2:46 pm
Loren,
Heya! I was really excited to read your post on Snap and our Snap Preview Anywhere blog widget.
We have also spent a great deal of time making the installation and end user controls optimized for simplicity of use. If you want to modify the behavior of the previews for a site, we have a whole suite of tags and parameters you as a site ower can tweak to your liking. In addition we have made a number of transparnt end user controls (incl an easy opt out if you dont want previews).
I appreciate your coverage of our product and look forward to reading more on the widgetsphere in the coming year.
Cheers,
Jason Fields
Product Evangelist, Emerging Technology
www.Snap.com
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