Improve navigation for internal links
Problem
To see the proposed solution, see Solution below.
Currently, when the mouse cursor hovers over an internal link, a preview pop-up for that link appears. This feature is useful for easily viewing references, figures, tables, and equations in documents.
However, this feature has problems. Here are three examples that I found in the reported issues:
- If the links have not been correctly formatted, the preview pop-up does not display a correct preview because the different elements (equations, references, figures, etc.) cannot be detected (issue #1564).
- The feature is sensitive to the zoom used in the document (see issue #1573). Indeed, the higher the zoom, the less content will be displayed in the preview pop-up.
- The preview pop-up may be distracting (issue #1521).
In order to avoid the first two issues, a user suggested that the preview pop-up be scrollable (issue # 1573), but it does not resolve the last one.
Also, if links use a particular zoom to focus on particular elements, even if this is perhaps not the majority of the cases (see issue #1192), the preview pop-up does not seem to take this into account.
A solution would be the one proposed below, already mentioned in issue #1521.
Solution
The easiest way is to remove the link preview feature and replace it.
Instead, the user would click directly on the link. Once the link is clicked, Evince would therefore go to the linked page, respecting the location and the zoom level defined, and a "Back to previous page" (or better name) button would appear in the upper left part of the document view.
This "Back to previous page" button, once clicked, should bring the user back to the page where the link was clicked. Also, given that the links can modify the zoom level, this button must also be able to restore the zoom chosen by the user when returning to the previous page.
This solution seems to me to be the most adequate in view of the problems and proposals reported.
Unfortunately, this feature comes at a cost for mouse cursor users. These users will no longer be able to easily see a preview by hovering the mouse over the link, and will therefore have to click twice (once to follow the link, and once on the button to return to the page on which the link was). However, given the issues it can solve, I think it's worth it.
For touchscreen users, I found no downsides. Two possibilities were mentioned regarding access to the link preview feature (issue #1658):
- Long press on a link to bring up the preview pop-up, and tap on it to go to the linked page/element. In this case, I think waiting for the preview pop-up to appear due to the long press will be longer than tapping on the link and then tapping on the back button to come back. There is therefore no downside here.
- Tap on the link to display the pop-up, and tap on it to go to the linked page. In this case, the user has to do two taps anyway, like mouse cursor users. Thus, this possibility would only generate two taps. Again, there is no downside here for touchscreen users.
Also, in these two cases, to make the pop-up disappear, the user of a touchscreen must touch next to the link or the pop-up. So, the touchscreen user will also tap two times.
Finally, if other users see more visual or technical downsides than benefits with regard to the solution proposed here, do not hesitate to comment.