When you post a link on Mastodon, a preview will automatically appear below the post.
-
How interesting! Never noticed that before but you're absolutely right, it only shows previews for external links.
I'm not sure why it behaves like this, but if I had to guess it might be to prevent other internal links such as hashtags or mentions ending up as previews?
@FediTips always seemed like a bug to me (and a pretty annoying one). never bothered to file an actual bug but it's something i've noticed often while working on Fedialgo: https://universeodon.com/@cryptadamist/114395249311910522
cc @rolle maybe he knows why the standard web app behaves this way and/or if this is a bug as i suspect.
-
@FediTips what about when posting Mastodon links on other services? Seems like sometimes it shows a preview on WhatsApp and other times it doesn’t! Is that a server specific setting?
There shouldn't be major differences on servers running standard Mastodon software, but admins could manually customise their server's software to adjust their preview's format.
Previews can be adjusted by website owners (including Fediverse server owners) by including special tags within their site's headers. Some of these tags are mentioned at the end of the guide.
-
@FediTips always seemed like a bug to me (and a pretty annoying one). never bothered to file an actual bug but it's something i've noticed often while working on Fedialgo: https://universeodon.com/@cryptadamist/114395249311910522
cc @rolle maybe he knows why the standard web app behaves this way and/or if this is a bug as i suspect.
@cryptadamist @FediTips It's a bug. Opened a ticket in 2023: https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/issues/25791
-
When you post a link on Mastodon, a preview will automatically appear below the post. This can take a while though depending on how busy the server is, so don't worry if the preview isn't there straight away.
You don't have to do anything special to make previews appear, all you have to do is post a link. Here's a guide to link previews on Mastodon with questions answered:
️ https://fedi.tips/how-do-i-get-a-link-preview-to-appear-in-my-post-on-mastodonThe guide also has advice for website owners wanting to adjust their previews.
@FediTips personally, I’d like to know how to include links that don’t generate previews
-
@cryptadamist @FediTips It's a bug. Opened a ticket in 2023: https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/issues/25791
@rolle @FediTips i've also noticed sometimes YouTube embeds are broken. an example is a recent toot by @glyph:
https://universeodon.com/@glyph@mastodon.social/114419703164628390
-
@rolle @FediTips i've also noticed sometimes YouTube embeds are broken. an example is a recent toot by @glyph:
https://universeodon.com/@glyph@mastodon.social/114419703164628390
@cryptadamist @FediTips @glyph There's an issue about that too, that I have contributed to, see: https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/issues/31308#issuecomment-2639748698
-
@cryptadamist @FediTips @glyph There's an issue about that too, that I have contributed to, see: https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/issues/31308#issuecomment-2639748698
-
@cryptadamist @FediTips @glyph Currently yes.
-
When you post a link on Mastodon, a preview will automatically appear below the post. This can take a while though depending on how busy the server is, so don't worry if the preview isn't there straight away.
You don't have to do anything special to make previews appear, all you have to do is post a link. Here's a guide to link previews on Mastodon with questions answered:
️ https://fedi.tips/how-do-i-get-a-link-preview-to-appear-in-my-post-on-mastodonThe guide also has advice for website owners wanting to adjust their previews.
No guarantee that it will function as expected. Or even appear at all.
Also, if you try to use multiple links, only the first one that works will appear.
-
It happens separately on each server so if it doesn't work for you, it may still work for other people who see your post.
-
@cryptadamist @FediTips @glyph Currently yes.
I did a post about that workaround a while back and feedback in replies was the workaround didn't work for everyone? Has the situation become any clearer?
-
@FediTips personally, I’d like to know how to include links that don’t generate previews
If you're comfortable using Github, you can vote for this by giving a thumbs up at https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/issues/20188
(I've just given it a thumbs up myself as it does seem to be a good idea!)
I've added a link to the issue in the fedi.tips guide in case others want to vote too.
