prefetch.js

// This code is to be used with https://turbo.hotwire.dev. By default Turbo keeps visited pages in its cache 
// so that when you visit one of those pages again, Turbo will fetch the copy from cache first and present that to the user, then 
// it will fetch the updated page from the server and replace the preview. This makes for a much more responsive navigation 
// between pages. We can improve this further with the code in this file. It enables automatic prefetching of a page when you
// hover with the mouse on a link or touch it on a mobile device. There is a delay between the mouseover event and the click
// event, so with this trick the page is already being fetched before the click happens, speeding up also the first 
// view of a page not yet in cache. When the page has been prefetched it is then added to Turbo's cache so it's available for
// the next visit during the same session. Turbo's default behavior plus this trick make for much more responsive UIs (non SPA).


let lastTouchTimestamp
let delayOnHover = 65
let mouseoverTimer

const pendingPrefetches = new Set()

const eventListenersOptions = {
  capture: true,
  passive: true,
}

class Snapshot extends Turbo.navigator.view.snapshot.constructor {
}  

document.addEventListener('touchstart', touchstartListener, eventListenersOptions)
document.addEventListener('mouseover', mouseoverListener, eventListenersOptions)

function touchstartListener(event) {
  if (window.disablePrefetch) {
    return
  }

  /* Chrome on Android calls mouseover before touchcancel so `lastTouchTimestamp`
   * must be assigned on touchstart to be measured on mouseover. */
  lastTouchTimestamp = performance.now()

  const linkElement = event.target.closest('a')

  if (!isPreloadable(linkElement)) {
    return
  }

  preload(linkElement)
}

function mouseoverListener(event) {
  if (window.disablePrefetch) {
    return
  }

  if (performance.now() - lastTouchTimestamp < 1111) {
    return
  }

  const linkElement = event.target.closest('a')

  if (!isPreloadable(linkElement)) {
    return
  }

  const url = linkElement.getAttribute("href")
  const loc = new URL(url, location.protocol + "//" + location.host).toString()
  const absoluteUrl = loc.toString()
  
  if (pendingPrefetches.has(absoluteUrl)) {
    return
  }
  
  pendingPrefetches.add(absoluteUrl)

  linkElement.addEventListener('mouseout', mouseoutListener, {passive: true})

  mouseoverTimer = setTimeout(() => {
    preload(linkElement)
    mouseoverTimer = undefined
  }, delayOnHover)
}

function mouseoutListener(event) {
  if (event.relatedTarget && event.target.closest('a') == event.relatedTarget.closest('a')) {
    return
  }

  if (mouseoverTimer) {
    clearTimeout(mouseoverTimer)
    mouseoverTimer = undefined
  }
}

function isPreloadable(linkElement) {
  if (!linkElement || !linkElement.getAttribute("href") || linkElement.dataset.turbo == "false" || linkElement.dataset.prefetch == "false") {
    return
  }

  if (linkElement.origin != location.origin) {
    return
  }

  if (!['http:', 'https:'].includes(linkElement.protocol)) {
    return
  }

  if (linkElement.protocol == 'http:' && location.protocol == 'https:') {
    return
  }

  if (linkElement.search && !('prefetch' in linkElement.dataset)) {
    return
  }

  if (linkElement.hash && linkElement.pathname + linkElement.search == location.pathname + location.search) {
    return
  }

  return true
}

function fetchPage (url, success) {
  const xhr = new XMLHttpRequest()
  xhr.open('GET', url)
  xhr.setRequestHeader('VND.PREFETCH', 'true')
  xhr.setRequestHeader('Accept', 'text/html')
  xhr.onreadystatechange = () => {
    if (xhr.readyState !== XMLHttpRequest.DONE) return
    if (xhr.status !== 200) return
    success(xhr.responseText)
  }
  xhr.send()
}

function preload(link) {
  const url = link.getAttribute("href")
  const loc = new URL(url, location.protocol + "//" + location.host)
  const absoluteUrl = loc.toString()
  
  if (link.dataset.prefetchWithLink == "true") {
    const prefetcher = document.createElement('link')
    prefetcher.rel = 'prefetch'
    prefetcher.href = url
    document.head.appendChild(prefetcher)
    pendingPrefetches.delete(absoluteUrl)
  } else if (!Turbo.navigator.view.snapshotCache.has(loc)) {
    fetchPage(url, responseText => {
      const snapshot = Snapshot.fromHTMLString(responseText)
      Turbo.navigator.view.snapshotCache.put(loc, snapshot)
      pendingPrefetches.delete(absoluteUrl)
    })  
  }
}

so, how to use this?

@kwhandy I use a version of this (via stimulus) to preload pages the users are likely to click on before they click it. Makes everything a lot faster.

@leouofa Mind sharing the updated version of this?

@kylesloper Sure, here's the new gist.