The most underused browser feature: reader mode

#1

Post by frenkel » Tue, Aug 24, 2021, 9:09 AM UTC

The most underused browser feature: reader mode
frankgroeneveld.nl

Re: The most underused browser feature: reader mode

#2

Post by SevenSigs » Tue, Aug 24, 2021, 11:05 AM UTC

Haven't tried it but there is an addon to automatically enable reader mode:https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/auto-reader-v...

Re: The most underused browser feature: reader mode

#3

Post by frenkel » Tue, Aug 24, 2021, 11:10 AM UTC

SevenSigs wrote: post #2

Haven't tried it but there is an addon to automatically enable reader mode: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/auto-reader-v...

That's super useful for some known bad sites that I use. Thanks!

Re: The most underused browser feature: reader mode

#4

Post by hhsbz » Wed, Aug 25, 2021, 11:38 AM UTC

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

Re: The most underused browser feature: reader mode

#5

Post by frenkel » Wed, Aug 25, 2021, 11:46 AM UTC

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

You should give it a try, I've never noticed any important parts missing.

Re: The most underused browser feature: reader mode

#6

Post by 627467 » Wed, Aug 25, 2021, 11:48 AM UTC

Underused? I wish I could set the browser to be always in reader mode so I can save taps every day. Reader mode along with private mode is great paywall circumventer.

In opera mobile you can save reader mode pages in mhtml, it's great alternative to webarchive

Re: The most underused browser feature: reader mode

#7

Post by Forge36 » Wed, Aug 25, 2021, 11:49 AM UTC

The flag doesn't exist on mobile. There is another, but i didn't see it do anything.

chrome://flags/#reader-mode-heuristics

Accessibly has a "show simplified view" which seems comparable

Re: The most underused browser feature: reader mode

#8

Post by kzrdude » Wed, Aug 25, 2021, 11:52 AM UTC

Forge36 wrote: post #7

The flag doesn't exist on mobile. There is another, but i didn't see it do anything. chrome://flags/#reader-mode-heuristics Accessibly has a "show simplified view" which seems comparable

Firefox for Android has reader mode.

Re: The most underused browser feature: reader mode

#9

Post by perryizgr8 » Wed, Aug 25, 2021, 11:52 AM UTC

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

This is exactly why I don't use it either. Sometimes I have noticed that diagrams/images are stripped out. Sometimes a couple paragraphs at the end will be omitted.

Re: The most underused browser feature: reader mode

#10

Post by kzrdude » Wed, Aug 25, 2021, 11:54 AM UTC

frenkel wrote: post #5

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

You should give it a try, I've never noticed any important parts missing.

Sometimes images are missing. Especially banner images, of course, and sometimes those illustrate the story, but I think also background-level images (that are used for non-background purposes, if you miss them, of course).