instant
Languages and libraries
javascript library
SHOW HN2020
How HN took it
2 positive, 14 neutral or asking, 1 mixed, 19 critical, out of 36 comments about the project. Thread score -0.40.
Design: 1 for, 13 againstPerformance: 1 for, 3 againstPrivacy: 0 for, 2 againstExecution: 0 for, 1 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Makes page loads feel very fast once used to it
From 1 comment
I've experimented with instant.page and other similar scripts and it's almost shocking how fast page loading becomes when you are used to a (slight) page loading delay. There are…
arkitaip on HN
Tiny size, about 1.1kB
From 1 comment
instant.page is 1.1kB and encourages efficient server-side rendering.
dieulot on HN
Objections
Triggering navigation on mousedown breaks drag and drop and click cancellation
From 3 comments
This is a clever trick (using mousedown to trigger a click), but breaks drag & dropping links, drag & dropping links to new tabs. and there is also a thing I tend to do: If I…
kurtextrem on HNButtons are typically triggered on mouse-up events, not mouse-down, and there's probably good reasons for that. So you can drag the link somewhere else. Like to the desktop or a…
reaperducer on HNYep. This convention also enables the cancellation of a click, which can be useful if you realise your error mid-click. Another piece of software egregious for violating this UI…
hlandau on HN
Wastes bandwidth from prefetching links
From 2 comments
I don't believe so, no. Imagine how much potential wasted bandwidth that would be for someone on cell data
toolz on HNThis would be odd behaviour of any website for me personally, in some areas data is still precious and limited. Also I'm wired to think that only clicking website would open…
yinyang_in on HN
Breaks standard GUI click behaviour
From 2 comments
>it triggers the page load when the user starts pressing their mouse This breaks the standard GUI interaction model. Buttons are typically triggered on mouse-up events, not…
noisem4ker on HNGreat, now sites can implement clicking in some confusing, subtly broken way? File this with sites that implement their own broken inertial scrolling, their own broken…
wrs on HN
Does not work in Safari by default
From 1 comment
It doesn’t work in Safari. https://instant.page/tech > Safari 13.0 has support for <link rel="prefetch"> but it’s disabled by default. Hopefully it will be enabled in September…
mcintyre1994 on HN
Back navigation leaves page in drag state in Firefox 76
From 1 comment
With Firefox 76.0.1, when I click a link, then click "back", the page thinks I'm still holding down on the thing I clicked, and have it in a drag&drop state. Then I have to click…
LukeShu on HN
Requests
Avoid triggering on mousedown
From 2 comments
>it triggers the page load when the user starts pressing their mouse This breaks the standard GUI interaction model. Buttons are typically triggered on mouse-up events, not…
noisem4ker on HNI contemplated using the instant.page techniques a while back, and took version 1.2.2 and stripped it to its bones, removing configurability that I’m never going to use, and…
chrismorgan on HN
Questions
Does it work with Turbolinks?
From 1 comment
Does this play well with Turbolinks?
pouta on HN
Are prefetched results used if navigation starts before completion?
From 1 comment
If the hover request is waiting on a 5mb page (god forbid) and it doesn't complete before the navigation starts, then will the browser use any of the pre-fetched data? Or will it…
gitgud on HN
Alternatives named
Browser link prefetch and prerender
From 2 comments
Don't browsers do this themselves? Preload links on a page you visit? I think firefox calls it pre-fetching.
tryptophan on HNIn case of prefetching, that's a header <link> functionality: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/Link_prefetching_FAQ. Most implementations use it for static…
grx on HN
Fasterfox
From 1 comment
Fasterfox (the now disappeared addon, not the currently available theme of the same name) did that. And yes, it wasted bandwidth (for site owners as well).
Arkanosis on HN
InstantClick
From 1 comment
>InstantClick provides the smoothest experience possible, while still not requiring as much work as a framework (who give lesser results) It's not the job of a framework to make…
seabass on HN