Precise links wot Gerben

This extension makes the browser support links that point to any range of text in a page. You can thus create a link (e.g. for bookmarking or citing) to a specific quote, instead of only to the document as a whole or to a section that was marked by the author with a named anchor.

Following a precise link will scroll to and select the specified text. To create a precise link, right-click on the selection (or long-tap, etc.), and choose 'Copy link to selected text'. Paste this address wherever you are making the link (note that this extension enables you to create links to, but not from a selection).

The link format was recently suggested in this note, and builds on the Web Annotation standard. The precise segment it points to is specified in the link's fragment identifier, so a link may look like:

https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Koala&oldid=781295795#selector(type=TextQuoteSelector,exact=fluffy%20ears)

Ideally browsers would start supporting precise links natively. The format may however still change when/if it becomes standardised, so links created with this extension might never be widely understood. In browsers not supporting the feature, the link will luckily still point to the article as a whole.

Consider this extension as experimental. Besides the mentioned specification being a draft, this extension currently only supports the TextQuoteSelector defined there, and can still use some improvements. Help is welcome!