The most underused browser feature: reader mode • Hacker News Board

Re: The most underused browser feature: reader mode

#191

Post by BeetleB » Wed, Aug 25, 2021, 4:48 PM UTC

ameminator wrote: post #131

BeetleB wrote: post #125

Reader mode really helps me in printing as well. Old comment of mine: Printing is something I started to do some months ago. Instead of keeping the tab open for weeks, I decided I'd print anything I want to read and place it a physical "inbox". Some tips: I print 2 pages to a side, so 4 pages per printer paper. Even long articles don't use too much paper, and for my eyes it's still readable (there are a few articles…

I'll be honest, this is my favourite feature of my Kobo - using Pocket to save webpages and articles and read them offline. It seems to accomplish a similar goal to what you do here - without the need for all that paper.

I have a Kobo and I used to do this. And while I enjoyed ereaders for many years, paper is still king. The Kobo's resolution is still not good enough, and being able to flip pages is still more convenient.

The nice thing about the Kobo is you can install your own software, so there's still hope for a better interface.

Re: The most underused browser feature: reader mode

#192

Post by BeetleB » Wed, Aug 25, 2021, 4:49 PM UTC

saurik wrote: post #147

BeetleB wrote: post #125

Reader mode really helps me in printing as well. Old comment of mine: Printing is something I started to do some months ago. Instead of keeping the tab open for weeks, I decided I'd print anything I want to read and place it a physical "inbox". Some tips: I print 2 pages to a side, so 4 pages per printer paper. Even long articles don't use too much paper, and for my eyes it's still readable (there are a few articles…

> I can now read wherever I want. Going to the mechanic? I just take some of these printed articles with me. To be fair, I can (and do) do the same thing with my phone.

Off topic w.r.t Reader mode, but reading on paper is much better than on the phone. Actually, anything is better than the phone. My hierarchy is:

Paper > ereader > monitor > phone

Re: The most underused browser feature: reader mode

#193

Post by jrochkind1 » Wed, Aug 25, 2021, 4:50 PM UTC

I had no idea this was an option in Chrome, you just had to turn on a flag to enable it!

I am interested... also interested in if it gets past various paywall attempts....

Is there any way to get it on Android stock Chrome?

Re: The most underused browser feature: reader mode

#194

Post by BeetleB » Wed, Aug 25, 2021, 4:50 PM UTC

marvindanig wrote: post #182

mariusor wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kobo devices have out of the box integration with Pocket, which Mozilla supports natively.

Proprietary tablet vs. a browser feature on the open web–which option would you take?

Kobo lets you install your own SW. There are open source reader SW for the Kobo, and they're better than Kobo's own reader.

Re: The most underused browser feature: reader mode

#195

Post by jrochkind1 » Wed, Aug 25, 2021, 4:51 PM UTC

BeetleB wrote: post #125

Reader mode really helps me in printing as well. Old comment of mine: Printing is something I started to do some months ago. Instead of keeping the tab open for weeks, I decided I'd print anything I want to read and place it a physical "inbox". Some tips: I print 2 pages to a side, so 4 pages per printer paper. Even long articles don't use too much paper, and for my eyes it's still readable (there are a few articles…

This is really interesting, I might try it. I miss the printed newspaper/magazine reading I used to do (although I still do some).

Re: The most underused browser feature: reader mode

#196

Post by mperham » Wed, Aug 25, 2021, 4:51 PM UTC

My advice to bloggers: if your blog readability is improved by activating Reader mode, you have a styling bug to fix. Two universal improvements:

1. Bump up your font size. 2. Increase contrast.

Re: The most underused browser feature: reader mode

#197

Post by jrochkind1 » Wed, Aug 25, 2021, 4:52 PM UTC

The "first example"[1] now 404s. Weird. So can't actually see the demo the OP wanted to demo....

[1]: https://techdows.com/2015/02/enable-test-reader-mode-firefox...

Re: The most underused browser feature: reader mode

#198

Post by jrochkind1 » Wed, Aug 25, 2021, 4:55 PM UTC

infogulch wrote: post #98

k1m wrote: post #70

Any developers who'd like to contribute to improving how article content is extracted from web pages should check out Mozilla's Readability repository: https://github.com/mozilla/readability I'm currently trying to bring the PHP port up to speed here: https://github.com/fivefilters/readability.php We use an older version as part of our article extraction for Push to Kindle: https://www.fivefilters.org/push-to-kindle/

ArchiveBox is a tool that downloads web pages and saves them in various different formats: warc, pdf, rendered png, plain text. I wonder what it uses for plain text extraction and if the readability repo would be useful for that purpose. Edit: Oh neat it does actually. https://github.com/ArchiveBox/ArchiveBox/wiki/Configuration#... > Archive method SAVE_READABILITY > Extract article text, summary, and byline using Mo…

That's pretty amazing it already does it.

ArchiveBox and the other stuff from the "DIY no-credentials don't-care-about-the-rules" web archiving community, like ArchiveTeam.... continues to astound me with it's quality and "professionalism" (as a credentialed professional in the field of digital library stuff... they are often outdoing the actual credentialed professional community).

Re: The most underused browser feature: reader mode

#199

Post by mesh » Wed, Aug 25, 2021, 4:56 PM UTC

BeetleB wrote: post #125

Reader mode really helps me in printing as well. Old comment of mine: Printing is something I started to do some months ago. Instead of keeping the tab open for weeks, I decided I'd print anything I want to read and place it a physical "inbox". Some tips: I print 2 pages to a side, so 4 pages per printer paper. Even long articles don't use too much paper, and for my eyes it's still readable (there are a few articles…

When I was in graduate school way back in the 90s, I had an old dot matrix printer that I would use to print out the daily RFE / RI (Radio Free Europe) email news reports from Eastern Europe.

Its a huge waste of resources over time, but I find its much easy to focus and take in the information sitting at a table and reading over printed word.

I wonder if e-ink / paper devices might be able to replicate this now.

Re: The most underused browser feature: reader mode

#200

Post by S0und » Wed, Aug 25, 2021, 4:57 PM UTC

BeetleB wrote: post #125

Reader mode really helps me in printing as well. Old comment of mine: Printing is something I started to do some months ago. Instead of keeping the tab open for weeks, I decided I'd print anything I want to read and place it a physical "inbox". Some tips: I print 2 pages to a side, so 4 pages per printer paper. Even long articles don't use too much paper, and for my eyes it's still readable (there are a few articles…

I straight up stopped reading. Just listen. I'm using NaturalReader extension, which has a good voice in the free tier. Even tho I use Firefox everywhere i just open an Edge, copy-paste a link and just listen to the article.