Without a doubt, the most popular web browser on the market is Google Chrome. It has a much higher market share than its closest competitors. However, this is not a perfect application, and even its more direct rivals have features that the Google browser does not have. This is the case of the image preview and preview function that Edge will incorporate at the time and that Google already allows testing in Chrome.
This Chrome feature is still in the experimental phase. Despite this, it is possible to activate it in our browser in order to check if it is really a feature that can be useful to us.
We are going to see below what exactly this functionality consists of and how we can activate or disable it as it suits us.
Google Chrome preview modes
In general, all web pages have abbreviated information about their content for the user that we can view without having to enter it. This information can be seen from the tab of our browser. And it is that, with these new functionalities, what is intended is to obtain a new preview mode in the tabs that we have open. This will let us know its content, without having to click on it to see its content. For this we will use the “Tab Hover Cards” and “Tab Hover Cards Images” functions of Chrome.
This preview mode is a new feature that Chrome acquired from Google and is in the testing phase. It has a “Preview” mode (Tab Hover Cards), the most common, and a “Preview with images” mode (Tab Hover Cards Images). These news are by no means exclusive, but Microsoft previously launched with its Edge browser. Not to be left behind, now Google has adapted so that Chrome users can also enjoy them.
In this way, when we move the mouse pointer over an open browser tab, we will see how a preview of the URL and the page title is shown in case we have the “Tab Hover Cards” mode active. If instead of this mode, we have activated the “Tab Hover Cards Images” mode, in addition to the title and the URL we will also see a small preview image of the page.
These are functionalities that Google has been working on for a long time to offer a preview of the open tabs and know their content without having to enter the tab . This is something that can be quite useful when we have several tabs open on the same website, or even on different pages. In this way, we can keep track of all open tabs without interruption.
Likewise, we have to bear in mind that these are Google’s experimental functions. This means that they may be faulty or not always work correctly. And it may even be the case that they are removed without prior notice if Google deems it appropriate. However, if we are willing to try them, today we are going to show you how we can activate both the “Preview” mode and the “Preview with images” in a few simple steps. In the same way, we will also see how we can deactivate them in case after trying them they have not convinced us enough.
Enable or disable preview mode
First, we are going to talk about the preview mode that we can activate from the Chrome tags section. In order to enable this function we must open Chrome and write the following in the address bar:
chrome://flags/
Once the page is open, we will use the search engine to write “Taber Hover Cards” and we will see that this function is underlined in yellow. If we want to enable it, just click on the blue button on the right and choose “Enabled” . Finally, click on the “Relaunch” button at the bottom right so that Chrome restarts and applies the changes.
If we have followed the steps correctly, we will see how opening a new tab in Chrome and hovering over it will show us the URL and the title of the web page found in the tab. In this case, the information provided is quite brief. That is why, it can be interesting for users who do not require a preview that invades part of their screen abruptly.
If we finally decide that we don’t like it and want to deactivate it, the procedure is just as simple. You will have to repeat the previous steps and simply change “Enabled” to “Disabled” and restart again.
Enable or disable image preview mode
Next, we are going to see how we can activate or deactivate the image preview mode of Google Chrome, with a few steps similar to the previous one.
The first thing we have to do is open our Chrome browser and the address bar we write:
chrome://flags/#tab-hover-card-images
Once we have opened the Chrome flags window, an entry marked in yellow with the name “Tab Hover Card Images” should appear directly. Now all we need to do is click on the corresponding box on the right and mark as “Enabled” .
Once this is done, click on the “Relaunch” button that will appear in the lower right to restart Chrome and implement the changes made. In this way, if we have followed the indicated steps, we will check how, once Chrome is restarted, if we have a tab with a page open and we hover the mouse over it, it will show us information about the URL, the title and a preview image of the herself. Without a doubt, it is a more complete option and that provides more information than the previous option.
In the event that we repent and want to deactivate this function, we will only need to reverse the steps. Just repeat the steps again, changing Enabled to “Disabled” and restarting again.
