Greasemonkey script that highlights "heavy links" July 6, 2006 9:37 PM Subscribe
I run a Greasemonkey script that highlights "heavy links" - links such a Youtube or .mov that might take a while to download.
Should this script action be incorporated into the meta universe?
Proper etiquitte is to flag such heavy links but if you Firefox users install this script and say look at posts tagged with video, you will see many examples of posters who bother to tag their posts but don't flag their links. Then there are many who don’t tag or flag.
Even if you don't support such highlighting at the site (It will just make people lazy), how are my filters? What else do I need to include? [jeez, trying to get the below to display properly was very trying]
Should this script action be incorporated into the meta universe?
Proper etiquitte is to flag such heavy links but if you Firefox users install this script and say look at posts tagged with video, you will see many examples of posters who bother to tag their posts but don't flag their links. Then there are many who don’t tag or flag.
Even if you don't support such highlighting at the site (It will just make people lazy), how are my filters? What else do I need to include? [jeez, trying to get the below to display properly was very trying]
HeavyExtensions = ['swf', 'ram', 'rm', 'wmv', 'asx', 'mov', 'pdf', 'mp3', 'mpg', 'mpeg', 'wav'];
HeavyURLs = [
/youtube.com\/.*\?v=/,
/video.google.com\/videoplay/,
/video.google.com\/googleplayer.swf/,
/collegehumor.com\/movies\/.*\//,
]
yeah i don't see why this is necessary.
posted by StrasbourgSecaucus at 10:13 PM on July 6, 2006
posted by StrasbourgSecaucus at 10:13 PM on July 6, 2006
and wouldn't this actually mean even more stuff for modem users to download (even if it's only a few lines here and there)?
posted by StrasbourgSecaucus at 10:14 PM on July 6, 2006
posted by StrasbourgSecaucus at 10:14 PM on July 6, 2006
Mousing over seems to work fine for me.
Yeah, but to mouse requires an action just to discover something. Wouldn't it be nicer if the link showed you if it was heavy or not and you didn't have to mouse over to discover that?
posted by MonkeySaltedNuts at 10:20 PM on July 6, 2006
Yeah, but to mouse requires an action just to discover something. Wouldn't it be nicer if the link showed you if it was heavy or not and you didn't have to mouse over to discover that?
posted by MonkeySaltedNuts at 10:20 PM on July 6, 2006
Eh, I'm pretty use to mousing over links by now, I've been doing it for so long. And really, the movie links and such don't really bother me since I'm on broadband. I tried it out but I'm not too big on extra color-coding and such.
posted by puke & cry at 10:27 PM on July 6, 2006
posted by puke & cry at 10:27 PM on July 6, 2006
I adore Mondo Meta and some of the other Greasemonkey scripts. I never see the political circle jerks anymore, or the Apple product placements, or YouTube links. And as an added benefit, post scroll down the front page mush more slowly, I get to see conversations develop in a way I didn't used to.
That said, I don't see the advantage of the script you are offering. But maybe I would feel differently if I were on dialup?
posted by LarryC at 10:40 PM on July 6, 2006
That said, I don't see the advantage of the script you are offering. But maybe I would feel differently if I were on dialup?
posted by LarryC at 10:40 PM on July 6, 2006
What's a screenshot of it in action look like?
posted by mathowie (staff) at 10:44 PM on July 6, 2006
posted by mathowie (staff) at 10:44 PM on July 6, 2006
Put it out there for people who want/need it, and leave it at that.
posted by cortex at 10:48 PM on July 6, 2006
posted by cortex at 10:48 PM on July 6, 2006
I think that's a pretty ugly-looking page. On the other hand, some Javascript that allowed you to hold down a key to see all the heavy links highlighted like that (I would just boldface them) would be pretty sexy.
posted by onalark at 11:05 PM on July 6, 2006
posted by onalark at 11:05 PM on July 6, 2006
I like it...I hate accidently clicking on movie files.
posted by apple scruff at 12:41 AM on July 7, 2006
posted by apple scruff at 12:41 AM on July 7, 2006
Yeah, but to mouse requires an action just to discover something. Wouldn't it be nicer if the link showed you if it was heavy or not and you didn't have to mouse over to discover that?
Well you have to mouseover it to click on it anyway, so who cares?
posted by delmoi at 12:45 AM on July 7, 2006
Well you have to mouseover it to click on it anyway, so who cares?
posted by delmoi at 12:45 AM on July 7, 2006
I think the script is beneficial, however I can't get it to work correctly under Opera. I know nothing about programming or I would try to fix it myself.
posted by bigmusic at 12:50 AM on July 7, 2006
posted by bigmusic at 12:50 AM on July 7, 2006
delmoi : "Well you have to mouseover it to click on it anyway, so who cares?"
Yes, but you don't have to mouseover it to not click on it.
That is, imagine two links: one to an html file, one to a mov file. You don't intend to view mov files, just html. Without the script, you will mouseover both, and click the html link. So two mouseovers, one click. With the script, you will see the mov, and not have to mouseover it, so in the end, one mouseover, one click. The issue isn't having to mouseover stuff that you're going to click anyway, it's having to mousover stuff that you're not going to click.
Personally, I have no use for it, but I do understand that it has a purpose.
posted by Bugbread at 5:57 AM on July 7, 2006
Yes, but you don't have to mouseover it to not click on it.
That is, imagine two links: one to an html file, one to a mov file. You don't intend to view mov files, just html. Without the script, you will mouseover both, and click the html link. So two mouseovers, one click. With the script, you will see the mov, and not have to mouseover it, so in the end, one mouseover, one click. The issue isn't having to mouseover stuff that you're going to click anyway, it's having to mousover stuff that you're not going to click.
Personally, I have no use for it, but I do understand that it has a purpose.
posted by Bugbread at 5:57 AM on July 7, 2006
Dumb question:
Why limit this script to metafilter? Surely this would be useful for other websites that provide links.
posted by empath at 6:06 AM on July 7, 2006
Why limit this script to metafilter? Surely this would be useful for other websites that provide links.
posted by empath at 6:06 AM on July 7, 2006
I'd support this only if it displayed every media type. .gif, pdf, html, etc. Heaven forbid one should actually have to move the mouse to see what is being linked to.
posted by blue_beetle at 6:35 AM on July 7, 2006
posted by blue_beetle at 6:35 AM on July 7, 2006
Why does everyone feel the need to start MeTa threads for every single one of their insignificant Greasemonkey scripts?
posted by Plutor at 7:20 AM on July 7, 2006
posted by Plutor at 7:20 AM on July 7, 2006
Plutor : "Why does everyone feel the need to start MeTa threads for every single one of their insignificant Greasemonkey scripts?"
Because there is no open thread for people to post their scripts or script suggestions in, and, even if there were an open thread, MeFi doesn't float threads with new comments to the top, so the thread would soon be buried deep in the grey.
posted by Bugbread at 9:30 AM on July 7, 2006
Because there is no open thread for people to post their scripts or script suggestions in, and, even if there were an open thread, MeFi doesn't float threads with new comments to the top, so the thread would soon be buried deep in the grey.
posted by Bugbread at 9:30 AM on July 7, 2006
Pssst... bugbread. Did you take a look at the author of every single one of those insignificant Greasemonkey scripts?
posted by team lowkey at 12:19 PM on July 7, 2006
posted by team lowkey at 12:19 PM on July 7, 2006
team lowkey : "Pssst... bugbread. Did you take a look at the author of every single one of those insignificant Greasemonkey scripts?"
oops
posted by Bugbread at 1:41 PM on July 7, 2006
oops
posted by Bugbread at 1:41 PM on July 7, 2006
Drunken_munky writes "Target Alert is a bit more subtle."
I love target alert but it doesn't work for youtube/gv because the links are to the hosting page not the video. IE: the last bit of the URL is just the line noise generated by the hash, no file extention.
posted by Mitheral at 8:02 PM on July 7, 2006
I love target alert but it doesn't work for youtube/gv because the links are to the hosting page not the video. IE: the last bit of the URL is just the line noise generated by the hash, no file extention.
posted by Mitheral at 8:02 PM on July 7, 2006
Here is another GM script automates opening a FPP and all of its links. It puts a red Omega in the at the end of each FrontPagePost. When you click the Omega, it opens the article in a new window and opens all of its links in new tabs.
It is helpful to run the heavy-links script to warn against auto opening a lot of heavy links.
posted by MonkeySaltedNuts at 6:29 PM on July 11, 2006
It is helpful to run the heavy-links script to warn against auto opening a lot of heavy links.
posted by MonkeySaltedNuts at 6:29 PM on July 11, 2006
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posted by Balisong at 9:41 PM on July 6, 2006