microlink newsletter #3: Added video support, better prerendering & SDK features
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Microlink API
A new video data
We finally added support for video 🎉.
Now, the Microlink API provides a new field called video for identifying streaming sources detected from the target url.
Added prerender='auto' mode
Pre-rendering is a technique for retrieving the HTML content simulating the user browser navigation.
Although it will provide better data, it will take more time to respond. Most popular services do not need it.
In order to improve the response timing, we’ve provided an auto value by default.
This means that the service will determine if the target URL needs to use the pre-rendering technique or not.
We tested that this decision speeds up the process up to 50%.
A great merit of the improvements is related with our work improving our abstract library for interacting with Headless Chrome, browserless.
Also thanks to the Puppeteer community for helping us address performance issues.
Microlink SDK
Added video support
Because Microlink API can detect video, we use the new field to place the streaming source into our preview cards, via our SDK.
We added properties to control the video, like autoplay, muted or loop options.
Smooth image loading
We improved the transition between how the card looks before the content of the card is loaded, to give it a more natural look.
Add reverse property
We added the possibility to invert the orientation of the content in the card using a new field called reverse.
How to update
You’ll need to make sure you have version 1.7.0 or above of the Microlink SDK.
From CDN
The easiest way to consume the frontend library. Just paste the corresponding script before the closing <body> tag:
<!-- Microlink SDK Vanilla/UMD bundle -->
<script type="text/javascript" src="//unpkg.com/microlinkjs@latest/umd/microlink.min.js"></script><!-- Microlink SDK AMD bundle -->
<script type="text/javascript" src="//unpkg.com/microlinkjs@latest/amd/microlink.min.js"></script><!-- Microlink SDK CJS bundle -->
<script type="text/javascript" src="//unpkg.com/microlinkjs@latest/cjs/microlink.min.js"></script>
See more information.
From NPM
If you’re using Microlink from your package.json then you’ll need to consume the library from the NPM registry:
# Vanilla/UMD/AMD bundle$ npm update microlinkjs
or in a React project:
# React ES/CJS bundle$ npm update react-microlink
See more information.
Come chat with us!
Last and not least, we added a section to our website to allow users to join our chat.
We want to create a community around the product and all the open source software that we release & use.
All of these improvements or features are community driven: We listen to your feedback and act accordingly.
Whether you are are building a product and you need fancy previews, you’re an indie hacker or simply you like frontend stuff, come chat with us 🙂.
