Ultra Zoom Blog
Release notes, tips, and stories from the people building Ultra Zoom.
The bundle budget we actually ship
A line-by-line look at what Ultra Zoom ships to every user, why each piece is there, and where the bytes are going.
Collectors and auction watchers: inspecting lot photos before you bid
How coin, stamp, book, card, and art collectors use hover-to-zoom on eBay, Heritage Auctions, Catawiki, and Worthpoint to inspect condition before placing a bid.
The designer's hover-zoom workflow: faster moodboards on Pinterest, Behance, and Dribbble
How illustrators, graphic designers, and art directors use hover-to-zoom to scan inspiration galleries, inspect texture and type detail, and build moodboards without losing their place.
Why we picked Preact over React for a browser extension
React is a fine default for web apps. For a browser extension where every kilobyte ships to every user, Preact is a better fit — and the migration cost is close to zero.
Genealogy research: zooming into old photos and scanned documents
How family history researchers use hover-to-zoom on Ancestry, FamilySearch, and digitized newspaper archives to read faded handwriting and spot clues in old photographs.
Your browser already supports image zoom. It's just intentionally bad.
Every major browser has had the building blocks for native image zoom for two decades. Here's why they never stitched them together, and why extensions had to.
Zooming into real estate listings: what to look for in every photo
A house-hunter's checklist for inspecting Zillow, Redfin, and Realtor.com photos with hover-to-zoom. Catch red flags before you book the tour.
The Manifest V3 trap: why most hover-zoom extensions had to choose between breaking and spying
Manifest V3 reshaped what browser extensions can do. For hover-zoom tools, the migration created a fork in the road — and a lot of extensions took the wrong path.
The online shopper's guide to inspecting product photos
How to spot stitching, resolution tricks, and condition details on Amazon, Etsy, and eBay using hover-to-zoom. No more squinting or opening every listing in a new tab.
What happened to Hover Zoom, and why we built Ultra Zoom differently
Hover Zoom was the most popular image-zoom extension until it was caught injecting tracking scripts and selling browsing data. Here's the full story, and how Ultra Zoom avoids the same mistakes.
Zero-knowledge by design: how Ultra Zoom handles your data
A detailed look at Ultra Zoom's data architecture: what stays on your machine, what crosses the network, and what is never collected or sent.
Ultra Zoom launches on Chrome and Firefox
Ultra Zoom is now available on the Chrome Web Store and Firefox Add-ons, shipping with hover-to-zoom support for 60+ websites.
Power tips: making the most of hover-to-zoom
Three keyboard and mouse shortcuts that make hover-to-zoom even faster: scroll zoom, arrow-key galleries, and per-site toggles.