Showing a live link preview can be a cool trick to add to your site. Basically, when somebody puts the mouse over a link, it shows a preview of the page it leads to. This is done with a jQuery popup, which has a screenshot of the page. You can do this in WordPress with the right plugin.
Using the WP Live Preview Links Plugin for WordPress
Before you do anything else, you will need to download the WP Live Preview Links WordPress Plugin and install it. Once you activate the plugin, you will be able to access it from the new menu called “Live Preview Links” found in your WordPress Dashboard. It will most likely be found below the “Settings” menu at the bottom of your admin area.
When you click on it, you will be given all types of options for your links and how the popup up will look.
By using this plugin, you will display a live preview for any type of link, whether internal or external. You can adjust the settings to only allow the preview on external links or internal. This option is found under the “Live Preview Links” settings section.
The class=”wp-live-preview” option will allow you to choose to display live previews manually. If you select this option, you can show the preview by adding this tag to your link code, such as:
<a href=”http://www.ExternalSite.com” class=”wp-live-preview”>External Site Link</a>
Along with this setting, you can also adjust the size of the popup window, the position and how it is previewed. The default settings will work for most applications, but you may want to change the linking option at the top.
Now you know now to show live link previews in WordPress. You can use this plugin to help users see what they are about to find when they visit a link and improve the overall user experience.