eInk Mode: Making web pages easier to read • Hacker News Board

Re: eInk Mode: Making web pages easier to read

#51

Post by carlosjobim » Thu, Apr 17, 2025, 11:28 AM UTC

latexr wrote: post #27

bityard wrote: post #6

Okay, so I started reading this and got excited to see what this was all about. I've been wanting a web browser that can turn the "regular web" (as much as possible) into something more like an e-book that happens to have hyperlinks. Essentially, imagine Reader Mode, but all the time. But this is... something else? I tried scrolling to the bottom and as soon as I click on the scroll bar, I get a pop-up showing a bunc…

> Essentially, imagine Reader Mode, but all the time. You can tell Safari to use Reader Mode by default on all websites. On iOS 18: Settings > Apps > Safari > Reader > All Websites. On macOS 15: Safari > Settings… > Websites > Reader > When visiting other websites.

The advantages of this:

- Every website has the same accessible layout

- Blocks advertisements

- Blocks popups and auto playing videos

- Blocks cookie banners

- Blocks newsletter signup modals

- Blocks sticky headers and all distractions

- Auto dark/light mode on all websites

- Choose your preferred colour theme, font, font size and margins and it applies to all websites

- Images are presented neatly

- Inline videos are presented neatly

- Space bar to scroll down, shift+space bar to scroll up

- J/K to scroll between HTML elements (usually next paragraph)

- Can be disabled on a per-domain basis for when it's not suitable

The downsides:

- There are no downsides

Re: eInk Mode: Making web pages easier to read

#52

Post by carlosjobim » Thu, Apr 17, 2025, 11:51 AM UTC

c0pi1ot wrote: post #28

bityard wrote: post #6

Okay, so I started reading this and got excited to see what this was all about. I've been wanting a web browser that can turn the "regular web" (as much as possible) into something more like an e-book that happens to have hyperlinks. Essentially, imagine Reader Mode, but all the time. But this is... something else? I tried scrolling to the bottom and as soon as I click on the scroll bar, I get a pop-up showing a bunc…

I had a similar idea to use the ibtegrated browser in my ebook.. maybe is useful to someone else https://ebookmode.dropdatabase.es/

This is wonderful! Why don't you get together with the author of the article and make a killer project?

Re: eInk Mode: Making web pages easier to read

#53

Post by rchaud » Thu, Apr 17, 2025, 11:53 AM UTC

das_keyboard wrote: post #48

The article contains a paragraph about ads and it reads like a nightmare: > The full-page advertisement you saw on the previous page is an example. > the paginated website design opens up new possibilities for ad placement and presentation, allowing for innovative approaches in terms of ad type, location, size, and interaction compared to traditional scrolling. > highlighted and annotated sections often represent the…

This describes how ads are displayed in paper magazines. Sounds fine to me, I prefer static ads in predictable spots that don't cause page jumps the way "dynamic ads" do on web.

Re: eInk Mode: Making web pages easier to read

#54

Post by carlosjobim » Thu, Apr 17, 2025, 12:03 PM UTC

politelemon wrote: post #45

pyaamb wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish apple would enter the eink device market. Would be a piece of cake for them and easy new revenue for the company if they even get it half right IMO

I find comments like this strange and tbh a bit worrying too; instead of wishing for technology to get better, it's wishing for a specific company's revenue to improve. I hope they do not enter the eink device market. Eink in general is unfortunately already suffering from the stranglehold of one giant which has locked innovation away due to its proprietary implementations. Having two will not make the situation bett…

Apple is the only hope to get a quality device for the mass consumer segment. Others have tried and they have died, like Lenovo.

Re: eInk Mode: Making web pages easier to read

#55

Post by carlosjobim » Thu, Apr 17, 2025, 12:04 PM UTC

keheliya wrote: post #49

I wish this was supported by default in the Kindle browser. I wonder if there was a way to make it an extension or a wrapper and make it available in eink device browsers. But it seems that even this blog post page is not supported in the Kindle browser. (I don't see the eink mode icon.) The requirements for me are simple, primarily to make consuming web content on my kindle scribe easier. * Instead of scrolling by f…

Maybe this could be implemented on a jailbroken Kindle?

Re: eInk Mode: Making web pages easier to read

#56

Post by agos » Thu, Apr 17, 2025, 12:54 PM UTC

carlosjobim wrote: post #51

latexr wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Essentially, imagine Reader Mode, but all the time. You can tell Safari to use Reader Mode by default on all websites. On iOS 18: Settings > Apps > Safari > Reader > All Websites. On macOS 15: Safari > Settings… > Websites > Reader > When visiting other websites.

The advantages of this: - Every website has the same accessible layout - Blocks advertisements - Blocks popups and auto playing videos - Blocks cookie banners - Blocks newsletter signup modals - Blocks sticky headers and all distractions - Auto dark/light mode on all websites - Choose your preferred colour theme, font, font size and margins and it applies to all websites - Images are presented neatly - Inline videos…

space and shift space always work, but I didn't know about j/k, thanks!

Re: eInk Mode: Making web pages easier to read

#57

Post by jack101311 » Thu, Apr 17, 2025, 5:45 PM UTC

Hi everyone, I'm the author of this article. I was informed that my article has been shared here. I'm really glad to see the feedback and comments from so many people. I understand that this project is not perfect and has many areas that need improvement, as it's still in its early stages of development. I will do my best to make it as good as possible. Thank you all for your support !

Re: eInk Mode: Making web pages easier to read

#58

Post by jack101311 » Thu, Apr 17, 2025, 5:54 PM UTC

bityard wrote: post #6

Okay, so I started reading this and got excited to see what this was all about. I've been wanting a web browser that can turn the "regular web" (as much as possible) into something more like an e-book that happens to have hyperlinks. Essentially, imagine Reader Mode, but all the time. But this is... something else? I tried scrolling to the bottom and as soon as I click on the scroll bar, I get a pop-up showing a bunc…

Clicking on the scroll bar will enter this mode is actually a bug and thank you for your report and I have fixed it. The back navigation popup is a temporary measure to protect against losing the highlights and notes due to accidental back navigation presses. (Some E Ink devices support side swipe gestures from the edge of the screen to return to the previous website.) which I guess is more frustrating. Once this module is connected to backend script and database, allowing for real-time saving of your highlights and notes to your account, this preventive measure can be removed.

Re: eInk Mode: Making web pages easier to read

#59

Post by jack101311 » Thu, Apr 17, 2025, 6:01 PM UTC

dflock wrote: post #35

bityard wrote: post #6

Okay, so I started reading this and got excited to see what this was all about. I've been wanting a web browser that can turn the "regular web" (as much as possible) into something more like an e-book that happens to have hyperlinks. Essentially, imagine Reader Mode, but all the time. But this is... something else? I tried scrolling to the bottom and as soon as I click on the scroll bar, I get a pop-up showing a bunc…

I want this too! I discovered a really esotieric way to get this: https://duncanlock.net/blog/2024/01/04/super-fast-reader-mod... - but it would be really nice if there was just a way to switch reader mode on permenantly in modern browsers. Apparently Safari can do that, but afaik no other browsers support it. I really wish browsers were more modular - if the rendering engine and network fetching were easily separabl…

Many of the recent feedback I've received, especially from the E Ink community, suggests developing this project into a browser plugin. I anticipate future development will likely involve both a front-end module and a browser plugin approach. While my time is limited, I will do my best to explore and implement this.

Re: eInk Mode: Making web pages easier to read

#60

Post by jack101311 » Thu, Apr 17, 2025, 6:15 PM UTC

nottorp wrote: post #24

bityard wrote: post #6

Okay, so I started reading this and got excited to see what this was all about. I've been wanting a web browser that can turn the "regular web" (as much as possible) into something more like an e-book that happens to have hyperlinks. Essentially, imagine Reader Mode, but all the time. But this is... something else? I tried scrolling to the bottom and as soon as I click on the scroll bar, I get a pop-up showing a bunc…

When I browsed away by typing another site name in the address bar i got the 'your information may not be saved' firefox popup twice. Didn't see any forms...

Thank you for bringing this issue to my attention. I will try to modify it to automatically detect if the user has used highlighting or handwriting features, and only then will this prompt appear.