In mid-February, Google implemented the ability to create anchors to specific text on web pages in Chrome and Chromium-based browsers. The implementation is fairly straightforward but it does require knowing how to structure the URL string that creates the anchor tag which in turn tells Chrome where the specified text is on a given page. The feature has been enabled on Chrome since the release of version 80. In its simplest form, it looks a little like this.
https://chromeunboxed.com/chromes-scroll-to-text-looks-to-anchor-tag-the-web/#aswift_3:~:text=When%20availableThe end result is a link that takes you to the text on that page. You can see it in action by clicking this link. You should arrive as the text “when available” in the article. Chrome’s “Scroll to Text” Looks To Anchor Tag The Web This is a very handy feature if you want to share an article or web page that has a lot of content but you want the recipient to navigate directly to a specific portion of text. Problem is, who can remember all of that code? Thankfully, Google has been working on a solution for that very question. The company just launched a simple Chrome Extension that will create the URL string for you.
Link to Text Fragment
As the name implies, the extension allows you to link directly to a specific text fragment on a page. Once installed, users can highlight a fragment of text and right-click to create and copy the URL string that can be shared however you see fit. This could be useful for collaborative workspaces, education, or simply for casual use but it is important to note that it currently only works on Chromium-based browsers that have the feature enabled. That means Safari and Firefox are a no-go and it is unclear if that will change according to the developer notes.
The Text Fragments feature is supported in version 80 and beyond of Chromium-based browsers. At the time of writing, Safari and Firefox have not publicly signaled an intent to implement the feature.
web.dev documentation
Just for fun, I created the citation link above using the extension. You can click it and go directly to the above quote on the text fragment documentation. If you’d like to try out the extension, head over to the Chrome Web Store and grab it at the link below.
