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The most underused browser feature: reader mode

frankgroeneveld.nl

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Re: The most underused browser feature: reader mode

#241

Post by dredmorbius »

classichasclass wrote: post #81
shandor wrote: post #58

My most wanted feature for Firefox right now is the ability to right-click (or long-press on mobile) the link and choose "Open Link in Reader mode" exactly like they already offer for "open Link in New Private window". I think that would be even more important than the Private shortcut, with the amount of unnecessary crap the websites try to cram on your screen.

I implemented this for TenFourFox and it's a real godsend for certain sites. Meanwhile, there's this, but not Android-compatible: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/reader-view/

Thank you.

Re: The most underused browser feature: reader mode

#242

Post by pvg »

BeetleB wrote: post #213
dang wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please don't copy-paste comments on HN ( https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27921786 ). It lowers signal-noise ratio and isn't really how curious conversation works. If you want to refer to another post, that's fine of course, but in that case use a link and perhaps add some new info if any is relevant. https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...

Hi dang, Is this a new rule? I often find people copy/pasting older comments of theirs that is relevant to the current conversation.

https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=2&prefix=true&que...

Six years of nopaste exhortations

Re: The most underused browser feature: reader mode

#243

Post by dredmorbius »

codq wrote: post #161
spupy wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That sounds almost exactly like the functionality that Firefox' Pocket provides. The app downloads a reader view of everything you put in there so you can read offline.

Pocket sometimes fails to save the article locally, and forces 'Web View', rendering it useless unless loaded with a data connection. I feel like Pocket could use some updates, it seems underloved from the Mozilla team, especially for an app that purportedly generates revenue for the company.

That forced-web-view thing is absolutely maddening.

I'd actually prefer a placeholder "we couldn't render this", which leaves the tagging tools available, to redirecting to the remote site.

Re: The most underused browser feature: reader mode

#245

Post by dredmorbius »

hhsbz wrote: post #4

I never use it because I know the process is automatic and I'm always afraid I will be missing part of the text or the pictures. I've found ad blockers to be more or less competent in removing the stupid European banners, but they are far from flawless. Some sites get stuck without a scroll bar for example

There's no risk in invoking Reader Mode. If it doesn't render or omits text, you can simply toggle it off / navigate back to the native page.

Images in online articles are irrelevant the overwhelming majority of the time --- 75%--95% or more. At best they're eye-candy or distractions. They occasionally provide context. Some serve as a contextual reminder. I'd suggest that information-critical graphics (there's information in the image that's not available from the article itself) are in the neighbourhood of 1% of all images. These tend to be graphs, plots, charts, or maps.

They're also generally rendered by Reader Mode, unless the site is very poorly designed.

TL;DR: This is an irrelevant concern.

Re: The most underused browser feature: reader mode

#246

Post by bityard »

mperham wrote: post #196

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.

Honestly, I see way more blogs with a font size 20% to 50% bigger than what I consider readable. Pro-tip: if the text is so huge that only like 10 words can fit on a line in a non-maximized browser window, your font size is way too big.

It's like they are formatted for reading by teleprompter or something.

Re: The most underused browser feature: reader mode

#247

Post by dredmorbius »

Razengan wrote: post #169

While we’re on this subject, why the hell is HN so hostile to readability? No dark mode, minuscule font, easy to mistap the tiny “buttons”, and no support for Reader Mode

HN is managed very conservatively from a UI/UX perspective.

I share several of your concerns. You can contact the mods directly at hn@ycombinator.com

One suggestion that is apparently in the pipeline is for a user-provided custom CSS which could be used to fix font, contrast, and other aspects.

The underlying structure of HN pages (nightmare table-based layout) makes more substantial revisions difficult.

There are numerous alternative-interface projects using the HN API as well.

Re: The most underused browser feature: reader mode

#248

Post by [deleted] »

shandor wrote: post #58

My most wanted feature for Firefox right now is the ability to right-click (or long-press on mobile) the link and choose "Open Link in Reader mode" exactly like they already offer for "open Link in New Private window". I think that would be even more important than the Private shortcut, with the amount of unnecessary crap the websites try to cram on your screen.

[deleted]

Re: The most underused browser feature: reader mode

#249

Post by dredmorbius »

Otek wrote: post #144
ameminator wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 doubt he will print as much, so your e-reader will have less environmental impact. All that plastic and components are certainly the equivalent of several, if not hundreds of reams of paper.

Cost is a very rough indicator of footprint.

A modest e-book reader runs about $200. That's the cost of about 3 cases of 20# letter-sized paper (10 reams/case), or 15,000 sheets of paper.

At ~300 pages/book, that's about 50 books cost equivalent.

Note that printing output tends to run higher, at $0.01 -- $0.25 per page (higher for colour inkjet and laserjet).

Depending on ones reading patterns, the cost (and environmental impacts) of an ebook reader could well come out ahead. It's also generally easier to carry such a device than the equivalent number of printed books or documents.

Re: The most underused browser feature: reader mode

#250

Post by vanderZwan »

severine wrote: post #244
vanderZwan wrote: post #18

This doesn't even mention one of my favorite features of Firefox Android: if you bookmark a site in reader mode it gets saved as an off-line version

Unfortunately, as others have pointed out, that feature is deprecated in newer versions.

Aaargh, it really feels like they're actively making their product worse lately
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