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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

#81

Post by dredmorbius »

jack101311 wrote: post #78
dredmorbius wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I'm going to advocate for this as well.

I've mostly interacted with Daniel through GitHub. My most recently implemented suggestion was to provide margins for EinkBro's Reader Mode:

https://github.com/plateaukao/einkbro/issues/33>

eInkMode would be a much-desired further improvement.

Re: eInk Mode: Making web pages easier to read

#82

Post by jack101311 »

dredmorbius wrote: post #81
jack101311 wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I'm going to advocate for this as well. I've mostly interacted with Daniel through GitHub. My most recently implemented suggestion was to provide margins for EinkBro's Reader Mode: https://github.com/plateaukao/einkbro/issues/33 > eInkMode would be a much-desired further improvement.

Thank you very much! I need to correct my words, because your newspaper doesn’t contain images, so I think you can use Eink mode for grid or flex layouts without any problems.

Re: eInk Mode: Making web pages easier to read

#83

Post by jack101311 »

carlosjobim wrote: post #79
jack101311 wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

This sounds great! Maybe we can cooperate and try to make it happen.

Re: eInk Mode: Making web pages easier to read

#84

Post by dredmorbius »

jack101311 wrote: post #82
dredmorbius wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm going to advocate for this as well. I've mostly interacted with Daniel through GitHub. My most recently implemented suggestion was to provide margins for EinkBro's Reader Mode: https://github.com/plateaukao/einkbro/issues/33 > eInkMode would be a much-desired further improvement.

Thank you very much! I need to correct my words, because your newspaper doesn’t contain images, so I think you can use Eink mode for grid or flex layouts without any problems.

I've been thinking through approaches though I haven't yet attempted incorporating eInk Mode yet.

My basic document model is:

  
  
    
      
    
      
        
         ...
      
        
         ...
      ...
The headlines-nav is effectively a table of contents, and should be preserved as part of the main document. The header and footer can be treated as preliminary and terminal content. I think it makes sense to think of the as chapters or sections of the document, probably with page breaks. After that, a media query for positioning the articles within each section should make sense.

I've been talking to someone who'd prefer a printed-out version of the page (motor-neural limitations), and this might be one path toward that.

FWIW, I've considered adding images to the output, though in general I find these don't add much, and in fact frequently detract from, actual content. I've done some manual edits to add in images on a few instances. Automating that process of selection and incorporation is another challenge of course.

Re: eInk Mode: Making web pages easier to read

#85

Post by dredmorbius »

jack101311 wrote: post #77
dredmorbius wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 dis…

It's a bit jarring having my (usually prolix) writing described as "concise", but thanks. From your "Necessity" article, the point about minimising any ancillary screen elements is another that I strongly support. I'll almost always hide system menus and even the Onyx BOOX navigation ball when I'm reading in depth.

As much as EinkBro's paginated navigation is an improvement over scrolling (to the extent that I keep trying to navigate other apps similarly, and am disappointed), eInk Mode's more complete pagination is a huge step up from that.

I'm admittedly biased, but the newspaper layout really is calming, and looks great on my 13.3" Max Lumi. I'm also viewing it on an iMac 27" display, windowed, full-screen, and resized smaller. A large eInk display would make a cool demo.

For a static or paginated display it's possible to reduce the lede context (displayed story paragraphs) to include more headlines within a single page, or so that each page shows most of a sections' content. I've though of having an automatically-advancing display as well, though sorting how to do that through a Web browser might be challenging (a sequence of URLs most likely).

But yeah, I'm having fun and would like to incorporate your tool into this.

Re: eInk Mode: Making web pages easier to read

#86

Post by keheliya »

jack101311 wrote: post #76
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.

It has limited JavaScript support according to this: https://imgur.com/a/Ig8MyyH Should be enough to implement the claimed features at least.

Re: eInk Mode: Making web pages easier to read

#87

Post by keheliya »

carlosjobim wrote: post #55
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?

Yes! Maybe even a koreader extension with these features will be nice!
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