
Show HN: Bookmarklet to view full size photos from Google Images - d3vr
https://d3vr.github.io/viewimage/
======
fredley
This sort of thing is why I haven't completely lost hope in the web, yet. The
power is still in the hands of the user. Don't like a site's style? Fix it
yourself. Feature you like been removed? Write your own extension to put it
back.

Sure it's work, but ultimately no entity on the web can absolutely control how
you choose to consume their content, only try and make it difficult for you.

~~~
djhworld
It's great but at the same time, fixes and tweaks like this are only going to
really be used by savvy users.

The majority won't notice the change I reckon.

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mmel
Google seems to taken up a mantra of "if it ain't broke, break it" lately.

~~~
mikejb
If something seems just stupid, it is always a good idea to try to understand
the change. This one wasn't really voluntarily [1] (Though I agree for some
recent changes, it seems impossible to find a reasonable explanation :/ )

[1]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16388833](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16388833)

~~~
fnl
As far as we know, Google isn't willing to pay content providers, while
Microsoft is. So Bing still has the functionality, but Google not.

~~~
mikejb
DuckDuckGo still has the functionality, but I don't think they pay content
providers. From that I conclude that it's not just a function of "willing to
pay vs not", but that "got sued" also plays a role.

Content providers in this case is every web page that is indexed for image
search. Microsoft might have contracts in place with image services (getty,
alamy, and whatnot), but I have my doubts that they pay every photographer's
blog who's images they display in their image search.

~~~
Terretta
They _used to be_ pass through of Bing. Don’t know if still case. But when
that was true, they’d be able to do what Bing did.

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retSava
Also useful, boorkmarklet to make all text black:

    
    
        javascript:(function(){var%20i,x;for(i=0;x=document.getElementsByTagName("*")[i];++i)x.style.color="#000000";})();
    

and to allow text selection (I manically select text while reading, sorry
fellow office inhabitants),

    
    
        javascript:(function(){function%20allowTextSelection(){window.console&&console.log('allowTextSelection');var%20style=document.createElement('style');style.type='text/css';style.innerHTML='*,p,div{user-select:text%20!important;-moz-user-select:text%20!important;-webkit-user-select:text%20!important;}';document.head.appendChild(style);var%20elArray=document.body.getElementsByTagName('*');for(var%20i=0;i<elArray.length;i++){var%20el=elArray[i];el.onselectstart=el.ondragstart=el.ondrag=el.oncontextmenu=el.onmousedown=el.onmouseup=function(){return%20true};if(el%20instanceof%20HTMLInputElement&&['text','password','email','number','tel','url'].indexOf(el.type.toLowerCase())>-1){el.removeAttribute('disabled');el.onkeydown=el.onkeyup=function(){return%20true};}}}allowTextSelection();})();

~~~
zerkten
This doesn't undo text selection disabled by following:
[http://www.rgagnon.com/jsdetails/js-0120.html](http://www.rgagnon.com/jsdetails/js-0120.html).

~~~
retSava
Thanks! Updated the bookmarklet (used both IE and FF methods from the link):

    
    
        javascript:(function(){function%20allowTextSelection(){document.onselectstart = null; document.onmousedown = null; document.onmouseup = null; window.console&&console.log('allowTextSelection');var%20style=document.createElement('style');style.type='text/css';style.innerHTML='*,p,div{user-select:text%20!important;-moz-user-select:text%20!important;-webkit-user-select:text%20!important;}';document.head.appendChild(style);var%20elArray=document.body.getElementsByTagName('*');for(var%20i=0;i<elArray.length;i++){var%20el=elArray[i];el.onselectstart=el.ondragstart=el.ondrag=el.oncontextmenu=el.onmousedown=el.onmouseup=function(){return%20true};if(el%20instanceof%20HTMLInputElement&&['text','password','email','number','tel','url'].indexOf(el.type.toLowerCase())>-1){el.removeAttribute('disabled');el.onkeydown=el.onkeyup=function(){return%20true};}}}allowTextSelection();})();

------
federicoponzi
I was asking myself why this was there in HN top, headed to Google Images and
yes, it dosen't provide a direct link to the image anymore :/ This is going to
be very harder for a normal user to download an image at full resoultion. Well
done with this script :)

~~~
d3vr
Thanks, this was just a quick fix though, a userscript that puts the button
back where it was would be better.

~~~
devunt
I created it just ago, though it's not a userscript:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16391196](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16391196)

~~~
d3vr
I linked to from my repo and my comment on reddit:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/assholedesign/comments/7xvdkk/googl...](https://www.reddit.com/r/assholedesign/comments/7xvdkk/google_removed_the_view_image_button_on_google/dubkwqq/)

------
rbx
I am missing the point why this bookmarklet is needed. You right click the
preview image that google gives and either 'Open Image in new tab' or 'Copy
image address', or even 'Save Image'. Actually Googles change makes it easier
to handle images, since you get directly the original in the preview view,
instead of some cached version... what am I missing?

~~~
Fenrisulfr
I'd agree. It saves a click (instead of right click, left click, it's just a
left click on the bookmarklet). But it's not applicable for mobile and takes
up space on your bookmarks bar. I think the next step to replace the missing
functionality would be a Chrome extension to add the button back.

~~~
d3vr
Already done by @devunt
([https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16391285](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16391285))
: [https://github.com/devunt/make-gis-great-
again](https://github.com/devunt/make-gis-great-again)

------
Pxtl
This whole thing is silly, and I think the google image search team brought it
on themselves.

For a while, on mobile Google Image Search result pages, it was impossible to
find a link to the image in its actual context in the actual site. Like, you'd
Google Image search something and see something interesting in an SRP, but
then you couldn't find out what it was. Maybe there was a way to do it, but
the UI was too opaque to figure it out.

This obviously peeved some people off, and now the Image Results page had to
pivot too hard in the other direction. Whereas if they'd made both options
clear and visible, likely they never would've faced whatever internal pushback
they had from rightsholders and advertisers about GISRP's terrible UI.

And now we're working around this awful UI even further.

------
ars
Can you please not make the link an enormous button? I'm having quite a
difficult time dragging it to my bookmarks since it covers 1/4 of my screen,
making it really hard to see where I want to put it.

~~~
d3vr
Never mind, I tested it on Firefox, it sucks. Will fix, thanks for reporting.

------
bprasanna
So fast to come up with a workaround! Great

------
robbrown451
Thanks. What a stupid change on Google's part.

~~~
mikejb
They got sued, and this was one of the consequences

see
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16388833](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16388833)

~~~
robbrown451
Makes sense, they did what they had to.

Ok well the bookmarklet will see a lot of use. :)

------
jmiserez
Works on Safari Mobile (with “Request Desktop Site”).

But even better: Google is still linking to the image on the mobile page. Just
long press on the search result image in Mobile Safari, then press Copy to get
the direct image URL, then open the URL. Wonder how long that will work.

~~~
d3vr
You're right, I forgot to add a viewimage.min.js. I tried on Chrome mobile,
but it just does a Google search, didn't know inline javascript worked on
mobile browsers.

Here's the bookmarklet source for now:

javascript:void%20function(){function%20isElementVisible(el){var%20rect=el.getBoundingClientRect(),vWidth=window.innerWidth||doc.documentElement.clientWidth,vHeight=window.innerHeight||doc.documentElement.clientHeight,efp=function(x,y){return%20document.elementFromPoint(x,y)};return%20rect.right%3C0||rect.bottom%3C0||rect.left%3EvWidth||rect.top%3EvHeight%3F!1:el.contains(efp(rect.left,rect.top))||el.contains(efp(rect.right,rect.top))||el.contains(efp(rect.right,rect.bottom))||el.contains(efp(rect.left,rect.bottom))}%22undefined%22==typeof%20window.isElementVisible;{var%20imgs=document.querySelectorAll(%22.irc_mi%22);imgs.forEach(function(img){isElementVisible(img)%26%26window.open(img.src)})}}();

------
therealmarv
Another alternative (works automatically):

[https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/straight-to-
full-s...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/straight-to-full-size-
for/ghhmhdkbiodiengmhbbpjkcjodingned)

~~~
fishmeat
How does it work? Asking since I'm a Firefox user.

~~~
therealmarv
you can see the functionality in the screenshots. When you click on a google
image search result it open directly the image.

------
Ritsuko_akagi
For some reason, I find it getting harder to find relevant pictures using
google images. It almost always messes up what I want by showing the most
popular / vaguely relevant / search history based something.

------
busterarm
It's been broken on iOS (maybe all mobile?) for the longest now...

~~~
pmontra
There is a "Full-sized image" link in the details of images on Firefox
Android. Maybe the change applies only within the USA?

------
dylan604
I'm honestly confused by this. Why are people wanting the full sized image
unless they are trying to use it for their own purpose? I use image search
from Google as a way to find images, without searching multiple sites.
However, I'm not looking to use that image for anything other than "yes,
that's what I'm looking for, take me to the site that has that image".

Maybe I'm just being dense and hangry (need to go to lunch), but what are
legit reasons for this?

~~~
jmiserez
There are tons of use cases where you might want the actual image. Some are
completely legal, some might not be.

Some usecases I’m thinking of: printed handouts for a (kid’s birthday) party,
a picture for an informal non-public Powerpoint presentation, setting the
picture as your desktop background, printing/viewing a large diagram, etc.
E.g. if I search for “pyramid”, why would I need an article to go along with
it? Also in some countries printing for educational/school uses is legal.

~~~
dylan604
you do realize that using a picture for any purpose without the owner's
permission in not legal, right?

while you may not be using it for commercial purposes for a kid's party
invite, it's still not right/legal/moral, nor does it qualify for fair-use.
just because an image appears on a website does not mean it is free for the
world to use for whatever/however the viewer wants to use it. if it has been
done correctly, the site has been granted permission (free or paid) to be able
to display on that site. using it as a personal desktop wallpaper is also not
legal if you do not have permission. it's great that you think it is an
awesome picture worthy of being on your desktop, but that's not how it works.
same thing for use in a powerpoint presentation. you might get in less trouble
if you actually credit the site/photographer in the presentation, but it's
still not a legitimate use. i'd be surprised if corporations don't have a
policy against it. the fact that you are suggesting printing an image you've
just ripped off of a google search is legit, suggests you're just poking the
troll.

please, list the countries where it is free to just rip something off of the
web for educational/school uses. i really would like to know.

~~~
jmiserez
Disclaimer: IANAL, this is not legal advice.

There are several such countries, here is a list:
[http://teflpedia.com/index.php?title=Copyright_in_English_la...](http://teflpedia.com/index.php?title=Copyright_in_English_language_teaching)

You can google for more info.

Some more points:

\- not all images have copyright (public domain images, most images by NASA,
etc).

\- printing out things is certainly something people do, why do you assume
that’s trolling?

\- whether copyright and copyright infringement are right/wrong/moral/immoral
is a discussion for a different time

And in the end, people might just not care whether their desktop background is
properly licensed or not. Is yours?

And what would you actually do about the kids birthday invite with a Mickey
Mouse on it?

------
wand3r
What is a bookmarklet?

~~~
d3vr
Some JavaScript code saved as a bookmark. When you click on the bookmark, the
JavaScript code gets executed.

