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This article celebrates the proposition that "Almost every user will experience websites the way they were intended to be experienced." I doubt this is a good t

This article celebrates the proposition that "Almost every user will experience websites the way they were intended to be experienced." I doubt this is a good thing. I enable Safari or Firefox Reader View. I no longer "experience websites the way they were intended to be experienced." Because it's way, way better! When will Chrome implement a reader mode? Dumb question: they barely snuck it in on Android and drag their feet everywhere else. Browsers may be the user's ally or adversary. We know which one Chrome is. Microsoft has one hell of an opportunity here - not in a financial sense, but in a way that could greatly benefit Windows users.

npunt 8y ago
Very good point, and 100% agree. Browsers need to be on the side of users, if only because authors are demonstrably terrible at user experience. This isn't just because there's intrusive, bright/colorful/motion ads everywhere (though that's part of it). It's because authors suck at font choice, text size, line length, line height, text/background color & contrast, reflow across device sizes, and all the other basics of written content. Browsers need to also do things like: - make content more accessible to people with visual impairments and other disabilities - filter out content that doesn't need to be loaded - translate content into your language - make content appear consistent across sites and according to your preference (e.g. most recently, dark mode) - protect users from malicious content - bake in standard functionality like sharing & bookmarks A necessary feature of browsers should be 'render the author's intent faithfully', but that's by no means sufficient in today's browser market. Browsers are translators of content, both figuratively and literally. They're a window to another world, but also your guide. We need a guide we can trust, something that's on our side.
- zzo38computer 8y ago
  I agree that authors suck at font choice, text size, line length, line height, text/background color & contrast, etc. I generally do not specify any in documents I write, instead the client will render the document according to the user settings; this also reduces the file size. (In fact, I would even want to ensure most of them will work on Lynx, too.) (Also, many thing I write I use plain ASCII text files anyways; that is far more portable than HTML anyways) It need on the side of users not only because authors are demonstrably terrible at user experience, but also the user may wish to override anything.
Yetanfou 8y ago
Chromium - and with that I assume Chrome - has a reader mode, you just need to enable it on startup. They call it 'DOM distiller' instead of 'reading mode' but it does more or less the same thing. It can be enabled using the command line parameter '--enable-dom-distiller', just add it to $CHROMIUM_FLAGS (which I assume is called $CHROME_FLAGS when using the Google-branded product...?) and choose 'Distill Page' in the menu to see what it does. https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Chromium/Tips_and_tricks#DOM_Distiller https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Chromium/Tips_and_trick... https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/dom-distiller https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/dom-distiller
- toyg 8y ago
  So user-friendly. /s
c1sc0 8y ago
I want a browser that defaults to “reader view” ... I don’t even want to see the web as it was “intended to be viewed” if it means endless tracking, wasting my battery life & optimization for addictive ness. Remember when stylesheets were just a suggestion & you were supposed to be able to swap it out for your own preferences?

npunt 8y ago

Very good point, and 100% agree. Browsers need to be on the side of users, if only because authors are demonstrably terrible at user experience. This isn't just because there's intrusive, bright/colorful/motion ads everywhere (though that's part of it). It's because authors suck at font choice, text size, line length, line height, text/background color & contrast, reflow across device sizes, and all the other basics of written content. Browsers need to also do things like: - make content more accessible to people with visual impairments and other disabilities - filter out content that doesn't need to be loaded - translate content into your language - make content appear consistent across sites and according to your preference (e.g. most recently, dark mode) - protect users from malicious content - bake in standard functionality like sharing & bookmarks A necessary feature of browsers should be 'render the author's intent faithfully', but that's by no means sufficient in today's browser market. Browsers are translators of content, both figuratively and literally. They're a window to another world, but also your guide. We need a guide we can trust, something that's on our side.

zzo38computer 8y ago
I agree that authors suck at font choice, text size, line length, line height, text/background color & contrast, etc. I generally do not specify any in documents I write, instead the client will render the document according to the user settings; this also reduces the file size. (In fact, I would even want to ensure most of them will work on Lynx, too.) (Also, many thing I write I use plain ASCII text files anyways; that is far more portable than HTML anyways) It need on the side of users not only because authors are demonstrably terrible at user experience, but also the user may wish to override anything.

Yetanfou 8y ago

Chromium - and with that I assume Chrome - has a reader mode, you just need to enable it on startup. They call it 'DOM distiller' instead of 'reading mode' but it does more or less the same thing. It can be enabled using the command line parameter '--enable-dom-distiller', just add it to $CHROMIUM_FLAGS (which I assume is called $CHROME_FLAGS when using the Google-branded product...?) and choose 'Distill Page' in the menu to see what it does. https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Chromium/Tips_and_tricks#DOM_Distiller https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Chromium/Tips_and_trick... https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/dom-distiller https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/dom-distiller

toyg 8y ago
So user-friendly. /s

c1sc0 8y ago

I want a browser that defaults to “reader view” ... I don’t even want to see the web as it was “intended to be viewed” if it means endless tracking, wasting my battery life & optimization for addictive ness. Remember when stylesheets were just a suggestion & you were supposed to be able to swap it out for your own preferences?