#1

Steps to reproduce

  1. Create documents with headings that are links to other documents, e.g.

    [[Lesson 1]]

    • exercise idea 1
    • exercise idea 2

    [[Lesson 2]]

    • exercise idea 1
    • exercise idea 2

  2. Go to a document linked from a heading (other than the first one)

  3. Hover-preview the backlinks

Expected result

Hover preview should have the backlinked heading at the top so that the entire list under the relevant heading is visible

Actual result

In the insider build, the heading is in the center, cutting the visible area in half and wasting half the preview area with unrelated content.

Environment

  • Operating system: Windows
  • Obsidian version: 0.12.1

Additional information

The new “center search results” function is an anti-feature where headings are concerned. Centering a heading that is a backlink or search result does not provide useful context, since the text above a heading is, by nature, text about a different topic.

I have been using backlink hovering combined with links in headings to have a way to write multiple framework sketches on the chapters of a book or lessons of a course. That is, I might write multiple “outline” notes whose headings are links to lesson or chapter notes, and then contain lists of a particular type of information for that thing. (E.g. an outline of examples, an outline of exercises, etc.) This makes it easy to get an overview and shuffle items between chapter or lessons while planning, compared to putting things in separate notes.

Then, during more detailed outlining or writing within the chapter note, I could use the hover preview to easily look at the different work lists for the chapter. I even added some CSS to increase the hover preview size so I could usually see the entire relevant section easily.

Now, since installing the insider build, this has effectively cut the usable portion of the hover preview in half, forcing me to scroll to see the whole backlinked section. In order to get the same usable area as before without scrolling, I would now need to make hover previews the entire height of my screen, and half of it would still be wasted displaying a different chapter’s list. :frowning:

1 Like
#2

I agree that for headers (and only for headers) it may make more sense to stick with the top.
But this is not a “bug”. This is your (reasoneble) personal preference. So, please, open a feature request.

1 Like
#3

I consider it a bug as it is a regression in functionality – a problem with a new feature that is still in insider preview. Is there another forum other than bug reports to report UX breakage caused by new features?

#4

This is regression in functionality for your specific workflow but an increase in fucntionality for poeple who use block level links.

#5

You haven’t answered my question, which was where do you report issues creating problems with a new release?

Not all problems with new releases are feature requests, and it doesn’t seem reasonable to expect users to be able to know that what looks to them like a bug is not a bug from your POV. (In this particular case, I assumed the intention of the change was to show more relevant info to users, and that the “bug” was overlooking the fact that the specific case of centering on headers actually shows less relevant info, and that this would be important feedback regarding the specific implementation.)

I assume that 1) you must want some kind of timely feedback regarding issues like this with insider releases before they go public, and that 2) adding to the giant backlog of feature requests is not a good way for timely feedback to occur.

In this specific case, I used the insider-build channel on the Discord since the bug report didn’t work. If that’s the correct channel for issues like this, then great. But I sent it here first because I thought it would be less disruptive to do so.

#6

an increase in fucntionality for poeple who use block level links.

After reading this a second time, I find I am confused. The issue I reported has nothing to do with block level links, as far as I can tell. I wonder if perhaps there is a misunderstanding taking place regarding what issue I’m reporting?

#7

If it’s not a bug, and this is not a bug, it’s better to discuss on discord.

This change was made becuse people asked to see more context (previous lines) in the popup preview.