4 ms·

Readability - Uncluter what you're reading

63 points by Dysiode 16y ago

awolf 16y ago
I absolutely love reability. Not only does it remove distracting ads and styling but it allows me to decrease the number of words per line which is great for improving my speed reading.
- briandoll 16y ago
  I totally agree. I love the beauty of your blog, folks, but when I actually want to read your blog, I use readability. I wish there was a way to track the use of readability on a site actually. Would be good feedback for web designers.
  - Dysiode 16y ago
    If you embed a readability button you could adjust it to capture those metrics for you.
    - briandoll 16y ago
      That, or you could ensure that your blog is actually readable. I'd prefer the latter :)
- nailer 16y ago
  Agreed re: words per line, but removing ads is wrong. If you don't like ads (excluding offensive or animated ones), don't visit sites that make their money from them.
  - nailer 16y ago
    ! Since when did any content creators, HN included, support stripping non-offensive ads from ad-supported content?
pavs 16y ago
I wonder if you can add a "Readability Button" (instead of Print button) to your site, so that if people wants a nicely formatted version to read they can just click a button. Should be easy? I have to look in to it.
- petercooper 16y ago
  Should be easy? A bookmarklet is just a JavaScript link that you bookmark instead of click. You could copy and paste the bookmarklet's contents into a regular A tag on a Web page and it should work fine.
  - pavs 16y ago
    Thanks just did it. Very simple. Also will be hosting the JavaScript locally, editing the twitter account to link my twitter account instead of Arc90, but will keep the logo and link back to Arc90.
- colonelxc 16y ago
  Overall, I think it's a good idea, but presents a bit of a paradox. If you're someone who cares about the readability of your site, you'd probably already have a pretty easily read site/font/layout.
  - pavs 16y ago
    Good point. At one hand I would like to keep ads on my site to help me run my blog and i want to keep the current formatting of the blog, which though not very cluttered but can be distracting (as a voracious online reader I can empathize with other readers.) On the other hand I want to give the readers the option to choose a simple view while reading. Print View is ok but it doesn't do a nice formatting (unless you customize it). Since my ads are CPM based, it doesn't matter to me whether the reader reads them with readability or not, as long as the page is loaded once. I want to give them the option of having a simple, less painful to eyes, view. If the reader is already a readability user, they would still be one click away from having a better view.
  - 16y ago
CrazedGeek 16y ago
Can pg or someone put a link to this in the header? It seems to be reposted every two weeks or so. (It is awesome, though)
- blasdel 16y ago
  pg only links nepotistically in HN, with the one exception of that CO2stats web bug bullshit that he pays for without having invested in (which frequently times out and blocks the page rendering). pg is constitutionally incapable of not pushing the products of YC companies, no matter how incompetent they are. Witness the link to the abjectly useless webmynd firefox plugin in the footer, and his absolute refusal to publicly acknowledge the existence of the amazing http://searchyc.com http://searchyc.com We're mostly assholes here, and fittingly pg is the biggest of all by far. I could see him blacklisting readability, and for once I'd actually support him in his capriciousness -- people constantly karma whoring links to it in every thread are really damn annoying.
thristian 16y ago
There's a Firefox addon, too: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/46442 https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/46442 Just like the bookmarklet, but easier to customize - and doesn't involve sending the URL of every page you Readablize to a third-party website.
driekken 16y ago
Wonderful boomarklet. While I don't use it often, it's absolutely crucial for some problematic websites, which make your eyes bleed. It's a good thing that every month or so someone links to it so that others might find out about it.
grinich 16y ago
This is actually included in the in-app web browser in my Hacker News iPhone app. It's especially useful on a small screen where every pixel counts. The app: http://michaelgrinich.com/hackernews/ http://michaelgrinich.com/hackernews/
- BvS 16y ago
  Good job, would love to have that on my Droid/Milestone (Android).
fabiandesimone 16y ago
Is there any way to make this work on the Blackberry?
shrikant 16y ago
Readability breaks pretty badly on pages with really large amounts of text, like HTML ebooks. I moved to Readable now - http://readable-app.appspot.com/ http://readable-app.appspot.com/
milofelipe 16y ago
This is a great tool. Thanks!
justindz 16y ago
I built a little hobby poetry editor on Heroku in my spare time and I was really concerned that, although I have no ads or anything, the poems were hard to focus on with everything going on around them. So, I made a little button called "Reading Mode" that hides every element on the page except the poem text and a button to return to full mode. I think it definitely improves things--at least for the types of people who actually read poetry. Would love to see this approach on a lot more sites. I'm sure there are great examples out there. Here's the URL: http://poetry.heroku.com http://poetry.heroku.com EDIT: Heroku currently has a DB issue, which they're working on. Link still down, but hopefully up soon.
- justindz 16y ago
  Heroku's back up. Here's a direct link to an example with the "Remove Distractions" button: http://poetry.heroku.com/poems/68 http://poetry.heroku.com/poems/68

63 points by Dysiode 16y ago

awolf 16y ago

I absolutely love reability. Not only does it remove distracting ads and styling but it allows me to decrease the number of words per line which is great for improving my speed reading.

briandoll 16y ago
I totally agree. I love the beauty of your blog, folks, but when I actually want to read your blog, I use readability. I wish there was a way to track the use of readability on a site actually. Would be good feedback for web designers.
- Dysiode 16y ago
  If you embed a readability button you could adjust it to capture those metrics for you.
  - briandoll 16y ago
    That, or you could ensure that your blog is actually readable. I'd prefer the latter :)
nailer 16y ago
Agreed re: words per line, but removing ads is wrong. If you don't like ads (excluding offensive or animated ones), don't visit sites that make their money from them.
- nailer 16y ago
  ! Since when did any content creators, HN included, support stripping non-offensive ads from ad-supported content?

pavs 16y ago

I wonder if you can add a "Readability Button" (instead of Print button) to your site, so that if people wants a nicely formatted version to read they can just click a button. Should be easy? I have to look in to it.

petercooper 16y ago
Should be easy? A bookmarklet is just a JavaScript link that you bookmark instead of click. You could copy and paste the bookmarklet's contents into a regular A tag on a Web page and it should work fine.
- pavs 16y ago
  Thanks just did it. Very simple. Also will be hosting the JavaScript locally, editing the twitter account to link my twitter account instead of Arc90, but will keep the logo and link back to Arc90.
colonelxc 16y ago
Overall, I think it's a good idea, but presents a bit of a paradox. If you're someone who cares about the readability of your site, you'd probably already have a pretty easily read site/font/layout.
- pavs 16y ago
  Good point. At one hand I would like to keep ads on my site to help me run my blog and i want to keep the current formatting of the blog, which though not very cluttered but can be distracting (as a voracious online reader I can empathize with other readers.) On the other hand I want to give the readers the option to choose a simple view while reading. Print View is ok but it doesn't do a nice formatting (unless you customize it). Since my ads are CPM based, it doesn't matter to me whether the reader reads them with readability or not, as long as the page is loaded once. I want to give them the option of having a simple, less painful to eyes, view. If the reader is already a readability user, they would still be one click away from having a better view.
- 16y ago

CrazedGeek 16y ago

Can pg or someone put a link to this in the header? It seems to be reposted every two weeks or so. (It is awesome, though)

blasdel 16y ago
pg only links nepotistically in HN, with the one exception of that CO2stats web bug bullshit that he pays for without having invested in (which frequently times out and blocks the page rendering). pg is constitutionally incapable of not pushing the products of YC companies, no matter how incompetent they are. Witness the link to the abjectly useless webmynd firefox plugin in the footer, and his absolute refusal to publicly acknowledge the existence of the amazing http://searchyc.com http://searchyc.com We're mostly assholes here, and fittingly pg is the biggest of all by far. I could see him blacklisting readability, and for once I'd actually support him in his capriciousness -- people constantly karma whoring links to it in every thread are really damn annoying.

thristian 16y ago

There's a Firefox addon, too: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/46442 https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/46442 Just like the bookmarklet, but easier to customize - and doesn't involve sending the URL of every page you Readablize to a third-party website.

driekken 16y ago

Wonderful boomarklet. While I don't use it often, it's absolutely crucial for some problematic websites, which make your eyes bleed. It's a good thing that every month or so someone links to it so that others might find out about it.

grinich 16y ago

This is actually included in the in-app web browser in my Hacker News iPhone app. It's especially useful on a small screen where every pixel counts. The app: http://michaelgrinich.com/hackernews/ http://michaelgrinich.com/hackernews/

BvS 16y ago
Good job, would love to have that on my Droid/Milestone (Android).

fabiandesimone 16y ago

Is there any way to make this work on the Blackberry?

shrikant 16y ago

Readability breaks pretty badly on pages with really large amounts of text, like HTML ebooks. I moved to Readable now - http://readable-app.appspot.com/ http://readable-app.appspot.com/

milofelipe 16y ago

This is a great tool. Thanks!

justindz 16y ago

I built a little hobby poetry editor on Heroku in my spare time and I was really concerned that, although I have no ads or anything, the poems were hard to focus on with everything going on around them. So, I made a little button called "Reading Mode" that hides every element on the page except the poem text and a button to return to full mode. I think it definitely improves things--at least for the types of people who actually read poetry. Would love to see this approach on a lot more sites. I'm sure there are great examples out there. Here's the URL: http://poetry.heroku.com http://poetry.heroku.com EDIT: Heroku currently has a DB issue, which they're working on. Link still down, but hopefully up soon.

justindz 16y ago
Heroku's back up. Here's a direct link to an example with the "Remove Distractions" button: http://poetry.heroku.com/poems/68 http://poetry.heroku.com/poems/68