"Unfurling" or "Oneboxing" Type of Upgraded Embedded Links

[FrizzleFried]

Xenforo (sp?) has a very cool feature available called "Unfurling" that when you paste a link to a news article... it will replace the standard text link to a very nice box with a thumbnail of the story ... a link... and a small excerpt of the content.  Another forum software has something similar called "Oneboxing".

IT ROCKS!  I was going to request a mod (and I am sure people would pay for it... I would!) that does this.

Here is an example of what one of those upgraded link boxes looks like (basically,  paste in the link to the story and this is what replaces that standard text link:

[Kindred]

there was a similar, but simpler version of this as a mod called "Descriptive links"


https://github.com/realdigger/SMF-Descriptive-Links

here's a similar one
https://custom.simplemachines.org/index.php?mod=835

[FrizzleFried]

Hmmm... neither are 2.1.1 and neither really do what the above does.  It really does spiff up a place that posts a lot of links (debate forums... political forums... etc). 

It's much nicer than a standard link or even a standard text based link.

Thanks you though.

[Kindred]

well, we'll have to agree to disagree on "nicer" -- personally I dislike the "preview" crap that facebook, etc generates form the links.

[FrizzleFried]

...and some people really like their naturally asperated 440ci Mopar. 



Trust me.  I know oldschool.  I don't own a cell phone.  On purpose.

No,  I'm not kidding.

[live627]

This one piques my interest. I'll put together some code.

[FrizzleFried]

I am very excited to give it a try.  If you need someone to BETA test,  I'm your guy!

[live627]

@FrizzleFried can you send me your email so that I can send you the mod?

[FrizzleFried]

Email sent...looking forward!

[live627]

You cannot view this attachment.

[FrizzleFried]

Looking forward to testing!!

[alex_cipher]

I'm interested in testing this mod too.

[live627]

Update: Still working on this.

Here is what happens when a link to a URL shortener is posted:
You cannot view this attachment. 

To save on network traffic,requests are cached in local storage.

[FrizzleFried]

...and I am very excited to see what comes down the pike!

[Doug Heffernan]

Update: Still working on this.

Here is what happens when a link to a URL shortener is posted:
You cannot view this attachment. 

To save on network traffic,requests are cached in local storage.

It looks very nice @live627.

[live627]

This mod is available at https://mods.live627.com/mods/link-previews/ for $30.

[FrizzleFried]

I recommend this mod!  Looks nice!  Works great!

[FrizzleFried]

I once again feel compelled to chime in on this mod.  I made the request for this mod thinking it looked nice on other forum software.  Live627 stepped up and got it done and it really does work well! 

Any forum that has a lot of news links ... or political links ... etcetera,  really benefits from the upgrade in look this mod provides. 

Tips I've Discovered: Blacklist your own URL.  I find that I much prefer the internal links to my site to remain their native look.  Blacklist other forums.  I find that links to forums in general tend to not be complete and in general look better in their standard form.  Blacklist MSN.com.  They use a strange way to link (using Ajax ... live mentioned,  IIRC.)... and again,  tend to look better in their standard format. My site uses ZOOM in one popular thread as well... I've blacklisted them as well but that's all I've felt compelled to blacklist thus far.

Thanks @live627 for stepping up and straight up getting it done. 

[alex_cipher]

This mod is available at https://mods.live627.com/mods/link-previews/ for $30.

It's not against you but other forum software has this feature by default.

smf is really far behind and needs a complete overhaul, not to mention that every major release takes several years to complete.

[FrizzleFried]

XenForo... $160 includes Unfurling

SMF 2.1.x... FREE + $30 for this mod = WIN!

Just sayin'...