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eInk Mode: Making web pages easier to read

jackscogito.blogspot.com

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Re: eInk Mode: Making web pages easier to read

#71

Post by dredmorbius »

jack101311 wrote: post #57

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 !

Jack: I just wanted to say that this is awesome, that you're echoing a lot of my own thoughts, and that I'm dying to see this as a browser extension or something integrated into Einkbro directly (I've been a fan of that for years now myself).

I wrote a set of design principles for e-ink displays back in 2022. You especially address #6, of course:

1. Persistence is free

2. Paints are expensive

3. Refreshes are slow

4. Colours are very limited or nonexistent

5. Line art displays beautifully. Raster images not so much

6. Pagination navigation is strongly preferred to scroll

7. Graphics are reflective rather than emissive

8. Touch / Wacom may exist

9. Feature detection capabilities are limited

https://diaspora.glasswings.com/posts/638a8d10e041013afba844...>

On power consumption: informally comparing battery usage under a web browser (Einkbro) and an ebook reader (NeoReader) on my Onyx BOOX Max Lumi, browser draw is about 10x that of the ebook reader.. It's much more efficient to have fixed layout and limited screen paints.

I've been toying with a vaguely-related project of generating a newspaper-like presentation of news site(s), described and imaged here: https://toot.cat/@dredmorbius/114356066459105122>. The main commonality is in creating a calmed interface though it's principally a standalone generator rather than an in-browser JS application.

I'd like to try integrating eInk Mode to that page to see how they work together. (I have some concerns given my use of grid + column layouts, but want to give it a shot.)

Re: eInk Mode: Making web pages easier to read

#72

Post by keepamovin »

bshacklett wrote: post #67
dflock wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> if the rendering engine and network fetching were easily separable - and you could insert your own steps into that pipeline, you could do all sorts of neat stuff. Can’t that be done relatively easily with https://mitmproxy.org/ ?

Heh, I know I'm late to the party here - but I actually separate the rendering and network in BrowserBox by running the browser on a remote server and the interface is just a web app on your device.

Doubly relevant to eInk mode as soon be releasing a text-mode browser which has a verys imilar goal: make the web less noisy, and easier to focus on.

We try that by putting the web in the terminal. Technically it's similar to how the CloudFlare/S2 remote browser works in that we take rendering instructions from the remote browser and display in your terminal, except instead of rendering everything from the browser engine, we only render the post-layout text boxes! To do this you need to apply a secondary layout pass account for overlaps due to monospace font sizes, and scaling to terminal dimensions.

That's why I'm thinking that people interested in eInk mode might care about this browser too, a quick demo of which is here: https://youtu.be/Xmt6j-nfc7E

If you'd like to be among the first to test it out when ready please add your name / email to this list: https://tally.so/r/wbzYzo

Re: eInk Mode: Making web pages easier to read

#73

Post by jack101311 »

bityard wrote: post #66
dflock wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Interesting... I may have to give that a shot in the near future.

That's great. A browser extension is a more proactive approach for E Ink users.

Re: eInk Mode: Making web pages easier to read

#74

Post by jack101311 »

carlosjobim wrote: post #52
c0pi1ot wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Actually, EinkBro's Reader mode is using Mozilla's readability.js. I've actually been using EinkBro for over four years. One of the main reasons I want to develop Eink Mode is to achieve true pagination, where text and images aren't cut off at the edge of the screen. EinkBro's approach involves scrolling a fixed distance by tapping page turn zones on the screen (just like pressing the space bar when using a desktop) , and it removes the scrolling animation using "jumping" by a 'scrollHeight' amount. However, this still has the issue of potential content cutoff.

Re: eInk Mode: Making web pages easier to read

#75

Post by jack101311 »

dredmorbius wrote: post #70
jack101311 wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you for your feedback. I do plan to turn this into a browser plugin.

That would be absolutely awesome. If you're not already considering it, the Readability.js module might make this more straightforward: https://github.com/mozilla/readability > (I think. I've looked into this but not applied it directly myself yet.)

Thank you for your suggestion. I may look into the implementation of how it fetches the main article of the document.

Re: eInk Mode: Making web pages easier to read

#76

Post by jack101311 »

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…

I think Kindle's experimental browser does not support javaScript so that's the reason why there's no eink icon. I do hope I can use Eink mode on my Kindle too.

Re: eInk Mode: Making web pages easier to read

#77

Post by jack101311 »

dredmorbius wrote: post #71
jack101311 wrote: post #57

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 !

Jack: I just wanted to say that this is awesome, that you're echoing a lot of my own thoughts, and that I'm dying to see this as a browser extension or something integrated into Einkbro directly (I've been a fan of that for years now myself). I wrote a set of design principles for e-ink displays back in 2022. You especially address #6, of course: 1. Persistence is free 2. Paints are expensive 3. Refreshes are slow 4.…

Wow, I'm really glad someone can echo my thoughts too. Actually, back in 2021, I proposed building a software ecosystem for E Ink displays. The article is right here: [https://jackscogito.blogspot.com/2022/05/the-necessity-of-es...] (This article was rewritten in English in 2022.) And some of your design principles resonate with mine, but yours are more concise and clearly highlight the characteristics of E Ink displays.

Also, your newspaper demo looks fantastic. I think it would be perfect for viewing on a 25.1-inch E Ink display in portrait mode; the effect must be excellent. However, I'm concerned you might encounter difficulties applying Eink Mode to it, as I'm currently grappling with the pagination algorithms for Table, grid, and flex layouts, which are proving quite challenging.

Re: eInk Mode: Making web pages easier to read

#78

Post by jack101311 »

dredmorbius wrote: post #71
jack101311 wrote: post #57

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 !

Jack: I just wanted to say that this is awesome, that you're echoing a lot of my own thoughts, and that I'm dying to see this as a browser extension or something integrated into Einkbro directly (I've been a fan of that for years now myself). I wrote a set of design principles for e-ink displays back in 2022. You especially address #6, of course: 1. Persistence is free 2. Paints are expensive 3. Refreshes are slow 4.…

Actually, I know EinkBro's author, Daniel Kao, and I intend to contact him about potentially integrating this module. Four years ago, I proposed and demonstrated the pagination concept to him, leading to discussions that eventually resulted in his release of the first public version of EinkBro. I've been a dedicated EinkBro user ever since.

Re: eInk Mode: Making web pages easier to read

#79

Post by carlosjobim »

jack101311 wrote: post #74
carlosjobim wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Actually, EinkBro's Reader mode is using Mozilla's readability.js. I've actually been using EinkBro for over four years. One of the main reasons I want to develop Eink Mode is to achieve true pagination, where text and images aren't cut off at the edge of the screen. EinkBro's approach involves scrolling a fixed distance by tapping page turn zones on the screen (just like pressing the space bar when using a desktop)…

Eink Mode + Ebook Mode = A fully functional web browser for Kindles, which is the most popular eInk device by a large margin.

If you combine these two projects, then you will have a great eInk experience for any kind of eInk device, and not much need for a browser plugin.

Re: eInk Mode: Making web pages easier to read

#80

Post by endofreach »

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 have actually written a shitty & dumb version of exactly this, that works quite well (but not tested much). Might share a link here in the comments if i find time to publish.
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