Mouseover text annoying, unhelpful

November 16, 2006 6:24 AM

57-Chevy-with-a-double-headlight-kit-Filter. Why, when one hovers a link in a post, does the text in the status bar now read 'short cut to x' ? This actually makes it harder to tell to what the link is. Short cut to 53601 tells one nothing. Why does it now have be a detective novel to tell where the link leads ? This is counter-intuitive--why make it more work to tell what the link is ? This is not user friendly.

Please bring back to the status bar the address one would read in the address bar and forget this 'short cut to' crap. Here's a concept: If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
posted by y2karl to Bugs at 6:24 AM (11 comments total)

I thought that was default IE behavior. Did it used to do something else? Have you switched browsers recently?

Sidebar: I fucking hate that IE does that.
posted by cortex at 6:28 AM on November 16, 2006

Um, what?

Run your spyware killer.
posted by If I Had An Anus at 6:28 AM on November 16, 2006

Why not try Safari next time you change browsers? It says 'Go to http://whatever.org', which I find quietly reassuring.
posted by jack_mo at 6:38 AM on November 16, 2006

Using IE 6 here and all the links still just have the full URL in the status bar when I mouseover.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 6:38 AM on November 16, 2006

This is an Internet Explorer feature (and the default behaviour).

I'm not seeing this in FireFox nor IE (with settings changed)

Are you sure it's only happening on MeFi?
posted by winston at 6:39 AM on November 16, 2006

Huh. Lookit that. Modified gripe: I hate that IE-at-work does this.
posted by cortex at 6:40 AM on November 16, 2006

In IE, choose Internet Options from the tools menu. Click on the Advanced tab. Under Browsing, uncheck "Show friendly URLs".
posted by Armitage Shanks at 6:43 AM on November 16, 2006

I wish Microsoft would stop hacking into third-party web sites and changing their behavior. First the Hotmail forwarding thing and now this! There oughta be a law.
posted by grouse at 6:47 AM on November 16, 2006

I thought that was default IE behavior. Did it used to do something else? Have you switched browsers recently?

...Under Browsing, uncheck "Show friendly URLs".

Well, I did not know that. Yes. No. I will do as suggested.
posted by y2karl at 6:49 AM on November 16, 2006

OK, back to normal. I do run Ad-Aware about every day but this has never happened until this morning. Your guess is better than mine. You may close or delete this thread now.
posted by y2karl at 6:55 AM on November 16, 2006

shortcut to closed.
posted by crunchland at 7:00 AM on November 16, 2006