Capn Design Archives: NYT Does Pop-Up Definitions

NYT Does Pop-Up Definitions

March 2, 2007

While reading the review for Black Snake Moan at the NY Times, I came across a word I didn't know: cornpone. So, I double-clicked it so I could copy and paste it into the google search window. Before I could reach the letter C, a window had popped up with the definition. This is the perfect execution of a feature I've always wanted. I'm surprised it's taken this long to surface.

If you want to try it yourself, you should give it a shot with Firefox first. It may work in IE, but it definitely doesn't work in Safari. Also, it only seems to work on article pages. Here's a video of the pop-up in action (you can't quite the see the double-clicking and highlighting thanks to compression by Snapz Pro and Youtube):

Comments (2 comments so far)

Comment #1:

I use Safari, and if I right-click on a word on the Times site, it will give me a small pulldown window with the definition, which I think is even more exciting.

Posted by Natalie on March 02, 2007 at 2:41PM

Comment #2:

You mean where it says "Look Up in Dictionary"? If so, that's actually on any page in Safari. Mac OS X's dictionary is integrated there, which is nice.

Posted by Matt on March 02, 2007 at 2:47PM

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