Two Clever WP Plugins - One You Need, And One You Don’t!
When designing, or setting up a website or blog, there is one aspect that must always be considered — usability. If your site is not sufficiently usable, you’re going to have a tough time keeping visitors, and getting them to return.
To be fair, websites as a whole are becoming increasingly usable, even with the growing possibilities that arise with more powerful coding. But sometimes, people just go too far.
Today I’m going to highlight two WordPress plugins that utilise powerful code. One I believe, should be used by every blogger if possible, and the other is one we’d be better off without.
Snap Preview Plugin
What’s the idea? Basically, the Snap Preview plugin gives you a visual preview of the page behind each link before you click on it. Apparently it therefore saves you time, because you’re more likely to click on links which are useful to you.
The Problem? It’s downright distracting, and obtrusive to the average user.
What is one of the most annoying aspects of surfing the Web? Popup ads! Why? Because you never asked them to pop up, they just appear with no warning, and it’s exactly the same with Snap Preview. I’m surfing through a blog, and as I move my cursor around, all over the place, slow loading, bandwidth eating preview screens pop up. It’s just not right.
But note this my fellow bloggers; by activating this plugin on your blog, you’re confusing up to 25% of your potential audience. You might not be aware, but up to a quarter of web users are visually, and physically handicapped, and things like Snap Preview severely ruin their online experience.
I could go on this issue, but if you want to know more, Lorelle has an insightful post on Snap Preview. One thing I would suggest, if there is a desire to keep this service, why not have it as a browser plugin? This way, users choose whether they want it or not, it’s not forced upon them.
Ajax Edit Comments Plugin
I know you’ve been there, just like me. You’ve written a comment, and hit the ‘Submit’ button. You then just happen to scan over what you’ve just written, and lo and behold, you’ve made a typo. Grrrr…!! What can you do about it? Nothing! Well, except perhaps clutter the comments section by trying to point out that you know how to spell the word, you’ve just made a mistake.
Wouldn’t it be great if you could just edit it?
Thankfully, now you can, with the super easy to use, Edit Comments plugin. I don’t need to go into details about this one, if you want to know how it works, leave a comment on this blog, and see for yourself.
My point is however, every blog should have this feature. Your visitors will love you for it, believe me.
So if you own a WordPress blog, get the Ajax Edit Comments plugin now, and if you’re running Snap Preview, have a bit of consideration (if not for me) for the disabled visitors that you may get, and deactivate it.
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Comments
12 Responses to “Two Clever WP Plugins - One You Need, And One You Don’t!”
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Hey Armen,
I’m totally with you on Snap - I’ve never seen the value of it from day one.
Thanks for the edit comments plugin info. I was a bit hesitant at first, cos I have a large aversion to adding 100KB of js files to any of my sites, but I was surprised to see that the js for the plugin came in at under 20KB.
I’ll give it a try and let you know how I go.
Cheers.
There is a browser based Snap-like add-on for Firefox called Cooliris - I use it all the time, it’s great, especially for responding to comments without leaving your dashboard.
The edit comments plugin won’t work
But it is a good idea 
Well I did think of the distractions Snap Preview gives readers. I have changed the settings such that the Preview displays only when the mouse hovers over the display icon and not the link. It’s not so bad really.
I agree with your comments about Ajax Edit Comments. I only wish I found out about it earlier!
Cheers.
Wayde - I haven’t noticed any increase in page loading times, but it may be different for someone on dial-up. It just takes a second or two when you actually click to edit the comments, but it’s well worth it I think.
Chris - Did you try the plugin I linked to? There are a few variations. The first one I tried didn’t work for me either, but this one did. Or maybe you don’t have JavaScript installed?
Palmdoc - You should maybe try contacting a disabled user, and see if they find the icon version to be a problem, that would be interesting. However, even if it removed the usability problems, I still can’t see the point of it, it’s beyond me.
As for the comments, you’re still ahead of most others.
Excellent points about both Plugins. A little note to the Snap Preview. The issue of why it is an unfriendly feature and Plugin is not limited to the disabled. For those working with limiting hardware such as a small screen or quirky mouse, trying to avoid these things is incredibly annoying and hard work.
I have many older friends who are sick of the tiny fixed fonts on many blogs and sites so they “read” with their mouse, moving along the text. When Snap pops up without warning, covering a huge amount of the screen, they are startled and lose their place and then have to figure out how to get rid of it but they can’t and don’t have the patience and it covers the content so they can’t keep reading. They don’t know to move their mouse or click on the page or anything else to get rid of it. So they leave the site.
For me, without those problems, I am always copying links to post in my blog posts and I have to click in and around and through and mess with the Snap Preview in order to get the link and if I can’t, I won’t blog about it, it’s that annoying. Three tries, and strike out. It usually takes four to capture the link. Wouldn’t you want to encourage linking and do nothing to get in the way of that?
So it’s more than a bother to the disabled. It interferes with the abled.
Lorelle - There were other issues which I could have brought up, but I didn’t want this post to be too long. Plus, I think your post sums up most of the points, which is why I linked to it.
I just can’t believe how they have the audacity to expect people to sign up to have it deactivated, without ever requesting it to be there in the first place.
Usability is a big issue for me Lorelle, and I will be addressing it on many levels as time goes by. However, I don’t have many friends that I can ask about problems they have online; most of what I can see, I discover by putting myself in other people’s shoes. As a result, I have wondered about the font size I use for the sidebar and comments section of this blog. Could you tell me if it’s too small?
Armen,
I just wrote about usability two days ago and if you’re interested, click on my name
I think the edit comments plugin is a godsend. It should really be made default for Wordpress alongside the Subscribe to Comments plugin and maybe QuickTags as well..
Maki - I bookmarked that page for future inspiration. Excellent post!
You’re right. Those three should be standard, they’re so helpful to absolutely every blogger.
Okay, Jack. I wanna test this “Comment Edit” thingie out…
You are right, this IS pretty kewl! I am going to load it…
[…] Ajax Edit Comments - A plugin that I’ve briefly discussed, and it is one you need. I challenge any reader to tell me they don’t like the ability to edit comments. It’s a […]
I would like to see a continuation of the topic
Вот хорошо когда в тему, ништяк!