Wikipedia has added page previews to the desktop version of the site. These page previews mean you can see what's lurking behind a link before actually navigating away from the page you're reading. Which, for a site as vast as Wikipedia, could be invaluable.
Millions of people use Wikipedia. And while it may not always be the most reliable source, Wikipedia is an invaluable resource we shouldn't take for granted. And now, thanks to page previews, fewer people will get lost down a Wikipedia-shaped rabbit hole.
Wikipedia Adds Page Previews
Wikipedia has millions of entries for anything and everything you can think of. And all of these entries contain links to other Wikipedia pages. Which makes it very easy to lose a whole afternoon just clicking through from one page to the next.
Wikipedia's solution to this problem, which some people refer to as the Wikipedia rabbit hole, is page previews. These are exactly what you would expect them to be; previews of the pages lurking behind links, which pop up when you hover your cursor over one.
Wikipedia's page previews contain the first few sentences of the article behind the link, along with an image (if one is available). This saves you from having to click through to that article only to find it isn't actually that interesting.
If you find page previews more annoying than useful rest assured it's possible to disable them. Just open a page preview, click the settings cog, hit Disable, and Save. To enable page previews again just click the link at the bottom of any page, hit Enable, and Save.
When Wikipedia Deleted MakeUseOf
It should be noted that page previews have already been rolled out to Wikipedia in other languages, but it has now finally been enabled on the English version of the ever-popular website. Which is why Wikipedia is making a fuss about the feature now.
As much as I personally love this new feature I still haven't quite forgiven Wikipedia for deleting the entry for MakeUseOf. Apparently we're deemed not important enough to warrant a Wikipedia page, which is patently ridiculous if you ask me.
Image Credit: Fabrice Florin/Flickr