Url render for Chrome

Search engines have been changing a lot in recent years, and Google is no longer your only option. However, even though there are lots of alternatives out there, the basic principle of how they work is still the same: you search for something, then you open links until you find whatever you need.

Url render is a Chrome extension, also available for Firefox, that aims to change all that. With this add-on, you can now preview search results in a separate panel without clicking any links, speeding up your searches significantly and avoiding tab clutter.

To get started, just type anything into your search engine. The results will be displayed just like before, but now you don’t have to click any of them. Instead, place the mouse cursor over the link and a preview will be generated on the right side of the window.

It really makes you wonder why an extension like Url render has yet to become widely popular. The preview is shown in an area that usually doesn’t display particularly important info, though it would have been great if it were possible to resize the panel.

Whatever would normally be displayed in a new tab can be viewed in the preview panel, including articles and videos. You can watch YouTube clips, listen to Spotify music, read blogs or anything else you would find in your search results.

Of course, other search engines are supported as well, not just Google. Yahoo and Bing are expected inclusions, but it’s good to see that privacy-oriented DuckDuckGo and Qwant can also be used.

We can’t think of a good reason not to try Url render, as it can both speed up your searches help you avoid opening too many tabs at once. It would really help if the preview panel were resizable, however, especially for users who don’t maximize their browsers.