Option to prevent automatically navigating to hyperlinks when clicking them

While writing, I almost never want to actually visit the links I’ve created. Usually when I click on a word within a link, it’s because I want to change the link text. Since I’m in an editor, I tend to just click the link where I want the cursor to be and then get surprised when my browser suddenly jumps into the foreground.

Currently I have to jump through some hoops to edit link text. I have to place my cursor outside of the link and either arrow-key over to the word I want to change or move the cursor to the edge of the link so that the link icon shows up, then click the link icon to open the link configuration dropdown and do it there.

What I propose is this: when I click a link, it should behave exactly as if I’ve clicked the link icon; it should open the link-configuration dropdown instead of navigating to the link’s location. Then, within that dropdown, there should be a new “Visit URL” button that I can click to navigate away from the app. Because some users may not want this behavior, I also propose adding the ability to turn this behavior on/off to one of the menu bar dropdowns. It could function like the “Auto Hide Markdown” option where a checkmark is added to menu item when it is enabled.

Edit: better proposal based on feedback– Put an option in the menu bar for something like “Shift+click to visit link urls.” When this is enabled, clicking the text in a link does not navigate but simply places the cursor where you clicked. To visit the link, you would hold shift and click. Alternatively, make it so that something like shift+click on a link avoids navigating and places the cursor instead.

Edit: It’s worth noting that in the iPhone version, clicking a link currently places the cursor while the keypad is open; it does not navigate, which I vastly prefer. Maybe in this context something like a long press could be used to navigate since otherwise you have to either close the keypad and click the link or copy the url and paste it into the mobile browser.

I experienced that annoyance often when trying to edit a link and especially a tag. But i thought that this problem cannot be solved as long as you don’t have a strict separation between edit and read mode which i don’t like.

Maybe the devs could find a good solution. But the longer i think the more i believe there is no one. When i want to use a link as a link it should follow the link by a single click - if i want to edit a link a single click should place the cursor inside the link text syntax. as good as bears devs are they surely are not able to create a mind reading algorithm :smiley:

That’s a good point. I’m gonna edit my proposal.

Hi there,

Many thanks for taking the time to leave a post, and for sharing your feedback.

Regarding the above, this is the expected behaviour for links and it’s unlikely a change to this will be implemented.

It’s an interesting request, but unfortunately it’s quite a niche one. Regardless, i’ll pass on this feedback to the team to have a think about!

In the meantime hoping you’ve a Beary nice day :bear:

Thanks for responding! For clarity, I don’t need an implementation exactly like what I described, in case that’s what you’re considering a niche request. Given that Panda/Bear is a writing app, I think wanting to be able to edit link text as easily as any other text isn’t really a niche or low-frequency scenario :slight_smile:

If the team has a better idea for solving the problem then that would be just as good.

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