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HN Feature that might be helpful: you can click the "web" link underneath the article title that will launch a web search for the article. Clicking through from

HN Feature that might be helpful: you can click the "web" link underneath the article title that will launch a web search for the article. Clicking through from the search results will normally let you read an article without the paywall.

pcl 11y ago
Nice... I've always assumed that that's just the title link, in a different form. Feature suggestion: change the text to 'search' instead of 'web'.
- BinaryIdiot 11y ago
  Yeah I always assumed it was just a duplicate of the title due to its nondescript appearance. Changing it to 'search' or something similar would be much better.
  - lvs 11y ago
    "google" might be more specific, since "search" can imply searching locally on HN.
    - BinaryIdiot 11y ago
      But what if they move to bing!? :) Yeah "google" may be good since the intent is to get around pay walls. That or some sort of phrase like "search url" or something less awkward that I apparently can't think of.
Aloha 11y ago
wow, I just noticed that, shows how carefully I've been paying attention!
- rory096 11y ago
  It was only added in September[1], if that makes you feel any better. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10223645 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10223645
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
amelius 11y ago
In Chrome, you can also drag-select any text, right-click and select "Search Google for ..."
- 2Pacalypse- 11y ago
  Or drag-select text to the New Tab button. It will open a new tab and search your selected text (unless it's an URL, in which case it will open it).
  - yitchelle 11y ago
    Works for Firefox as well. Great tip.
  - szatkus 11y ago
    On Linux you can also just select text and middle click on New Tab button.
- vive-la-liberte 11y ago
  In Linux distros and many other Unix-like operating systems, any text highlighted anywhere is copied straight to the clipboard the moment it has been highlighted, always. You then paste with a simple click of the middle-mouse button (which nowadays usually means the scrollwheel of your mouse). It's an excellent feature. Firefox and Chrome, unfortunately, when doing auto-complete in the address bar, highlight the auto-completed part, overwriting your clipboard. This becomes a problem when you copy something and then open a new tab and begin to type out the URL of the site where you intended to use the copied string. My way of dealing with this problem has been to add shortcuts on the new tab page to the sites where I frequently want to use copied content; archive.is, reddit and HN as well as a few others. That way I can at least navigate to those sites without touching the address bar. One could of course turn off auto-complete in the browsers but aside from the situation mentioned above, auto-complete is such a useful feature. I wish the browsers could find another way of implementing the auto-complete, not overwriting clipboard, but still retaining easy removal of the auto-completed part of the string. Also, while we're on the subject of browsers and text highlight, I wish the drag-and-drop-ability of links from the webpage could be turned off by the user. Sometimes I want to start highlighting in the middle of a hyperlinked text. I never want to drag the link anywhere. I still like being able to drop files into the browser, though -- either to open them in the browser or to drop them onto an upload area of a page.
tedivm 11y ago
The "Wait, Google Sent Me!" extension is awesome for this- you just have to click a button in Chrome and it'll reload the page with the appropriate referrers. Although Google took it out of the Chrome store it's still up on Github[1]. All you have to do is download the zip file, change the extension to "crx", and then install. [1] https://github.com/lakario/wait-google-sent-me https://github.com/lakario/wait-google-sent-me
- _lce0 11y ago
  Firefox's Paywall-Pass https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/paywall-pass/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/paywall-pass/
JeremyHerrman 11y ago
In chrome you can go to the address bar, add a "?" before the http and hit enter, and click the first link in the search results for the full article.
cornstalks 11y ago
For those having a hard time finding the "web" link (like me), you need to be logged in to see it.
- dang 11y ago
  I can't remember why we did it that way, so let's try removing the restriction.
  - mfairbank 11y ago
    Just don't lose sight of Chesterton's fence.
    - deleted 11y ago
      [deleted]
kuschku 11y ago
This doesn’t work in Germany. What works in Germany, though, is pressing "share via email" and using that link.

pcl 11y ago

Nice... I've always assumed that that's just the title link, in a different form. Feature suggestion: change the text to 'search' instead of 'web'.

BinaryIdiot 11y ago
Yeah I always assumed it was just a duplicate of the title due to its nondescript appearance. Changing it to 'search' or something similar would be much better.
- lvs 11y ago
  "google" might be more specific, since "search" can imply searching locally on HN.
  - BinaryIdiot 11y ago
    But what if they move to bing!? :) Yeah "google" may be good since the intent is to get around pay walls. That or some sort of phrase like "search url" or something less awkward that I apparently can't think of.

Aloha 11y ago

wow, I just noticed that, shows how carefully I've been paying attention!

rory096 11y ago
It was only added in September[1], if that makes you feel any better. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10223645 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10223645

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]

amelius 11y ago

In Chrome, you can also drag-select any text, right-click and select "Search Google for ..."

2Pacalypse- 11y ago
Or drag-select text to the New Tab button. It will open a new tab and search your selected text (unless it's an URL, in which case it will open it).
- yitchelle 11y ago
  Works for Firefox as well. Great tip.
- szatkus 11y ago
  On Linux you can also just select text and middle click on New Tab button.
vive-la-liberte 11y ago
In Linux distros and many other Unix-like operating systems, any text highlighted anywhere is copied straight to the clipboard the moment it has been highlighted, always. You then paste with a simple click of the middle-mouse button (which nowadays usually means the scrollwheel of your mouse). It's an excellent feature. Firefox and Chrome, unfortunately, when doing auto-complete in the address bar, highlight the auto-completed part, overwriting your clipboard. This becomes a problem when you copy something and then open a new tab and begin to type out the URL of the site where you intended to use the copied string. My way of dealing with this problem has been to add shortcuts on the new tab page to the sites where I frequently want to use copied content; archive.is, reddit and HN as well as a few others. That way I can at least navigate to those sites without touching the address bar. One could of course turn off auto-complete in the browsers but aside from the situation mentioned above, auto-complete is such a useful feature. I wish the browsers could find another way of implementing the auto-complete, not overwriting clipboard, but still retaining easy removal of the auto-completed part of the string. Also, while we're on the subject of browsers and text highlight, I wish the drag-and-drop-ability of links from the webpage could be turned off by the user. Sometimes I want to start highlighting in the middle of a hyperlinked text. I never want to drag the link anywhere. I still like being able to drop files into the browser, though -- either to open them in the browser or to drop them onto an upload area of a page.

tedivm 11y ago

The "Wait, Google Sent Me!" extension is awesome for this- you just have to click a button in Chrome and it'll reload the page with the appropriate referrers. Although Google took it out of the Chrome store it's still up on Github[1]. All you have to do is download the zip file, change the extension to "crx", and then install. [1] https://github.com/lakario/wait-google-sent-me https://github.com/lakario/wait-google-sent-me

_lce0 11y ago
Firefox's Paywall-Pass https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/paywall-pass/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/paywall-pass/

JeremyHerrman 11y ago

In chrome you can go to the address bar, add a "?" before the http and hit enter, and click the first link in the search results for the full article.

cornstalks 11y ago

For those having a hard time finding the "web" link (like me), you need to be logged in to see it.

dang 11y ago
I can't remember why we did it that way, so let's try removing the restriction.
- mfairbank 11y ago
  Just don't lose sight of Chesterton's fence.
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]

kuschku 11y ago

This doesn’t work in Germany. What works in Germany, though, is pressing "share via email" and using that link.