5 ms·

Slightly off-topic, but as much as I like all these low-tech websites (and I really do!) - I think I need some sort of extension that does this: body {

Slightly off-topic, but as much as I like all these low-tech websites (and I really do!) - I think I need some sort of extension that does this: body { max-width:900px; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; } Because trying to read full width text on modern resolutions is way too wide, and I don't even run my browser full screen - I have no idea how people that do, can read it.

IggleSniggle 6y ago
I typically read either on mobile, where reader view is a single tap. On Desktop if it’s too wide (and it rarely is since I browse at 150% zoom) then popping the window to one side is generally sufficient (two taps: Cmd-Right), and if that’s not enough, follow up with Cmd-+. To be honest I never notice this particular problem because it’s easy to mitigate. The one I do notice is when someone creates an unnecessary minimum width so all the text doesn’t fit. I’m not a huge fan of max width either but it usually is a pretty minor annoyance.
AgoRapide 6y ago
Author here. I agree :) What I do myself on sites like this is to use CTRL+ until the text is so large that I can read multiple lines in parallell (that is the secret behind speed reading, but the lines can not be too long of course).
faitswulff 6y ago
Reader mode, when it works, is a godsend for these sites.
thejohnconway 6y ago
I don’t think you’ll need an extension, most browsers still support a custom CSS file, I think.
PowerfulWizard 6y ago
I grew up reading the newspaper every day and I prefer quite a narrow margin, here is my bookmarklet for narrowing pages (and it changes font).: javascript:!function(){var e,t;e='body {margin: auto;margin-left: 100px;max-width: 540px;font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif;}',t=document.createElement("style"),t.type="text/css",t.appendChild(document.createTextNode(e)),document.getElementsByTagName("head")[0].appendChild(t)}(); You could change the "540" to "900" for your needs. I prefer this to narrowing the window because I prefer the whole screen to have a uniform background color. Edit I don't think it is infaillible, it didn't work on this page, but it works well on pages with no markup. For more complicated site you may try this: https://oxal.org/projects/sakura/bookmark/ https://oxal.org/projects/sakura/bookmark/
- mattowen_uk 6y ago
  I didn't think of doing this! I'll edit your snippet to do just the css I need and save it as a bookmark(let). Cheers!
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
nitrogen 6y ago
Might also try resizing the browser window. It's kind of a waste to have a single app fill the entire screen, just to put blank bars on the sides.
- dylan604 6y ago
  > It's kind of a waste To you. What I or someone not you does is up to them. For example, keeping a window full screen might have a lot of empty/negative space, but sometimes that's the desired effect to cover up all of the other things attempting to grab one's attention without having to hide/minimize other windows.
- em-bee 6y ago
  resizing the browser window messes with the other tabs which i do prefer in fullscreen, so i'd have to switch back and forth
m-p-3 6y ago
I send the page to Reader View in Firefox when I can. otherwise, Pocket and Outline are great for that.
forgotmypw17 6y ago
here is the more versatile way: <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
Aardwolf 6y ago
I almost always have 2 vertical side by side windows (meta+left and meta+right shortcuts), that's useful about wide high resolutions
AgoRapide 6y ago
By the way, while we are discussing readability, important message to all hipsters: We boomers prefer high contrast, that is black text on white background. Sites with grey text on grey background I usually skip. Once Firefox was my web browser because it has a very easy setting for forcing exactly this (black on white).
johnchristopher 6y ago
Firefox has a reading mode that is quite handy.

IggleSniggle 6y ago

I typically read either on mobile, where reader view is a single tap. On Desktop if it’s too wide (and it rarely is since I browse at 150% zoom) then popping the window to one side is generally sufficient (two taps: Cmd-Right), and if that’s not enough, follow up with Cmd-+. To be honest I never notice this particular problem because it’s easy to mitigate. The one I do notice is when someone creates an unnecessary minimum width so all the text doesn’t fit. I’m not a huge fan of max width either but it usually is a pretty minor annoyance.

AgoRapide 6y ago

Author here. I agree :) What I do myself on sites like this is to use CTRL+ until the text is so large that I can read multiple lines in parallell (that is the secret behind speed reading, but the lines can not be too long of course).

faitswulff 6y ago

Reader mode, when it works, is a godsend for these sites.

thejohnconway 6y ago

I don’t think you’ll need an extension, most browsers still support a custom CSS file, I think.

PowerfulWizard 6y ago

I grew up reading the newspaper every day and I prefer quite a narrow margin, here is my bookmarklet for narrowing pages (and it changes font).: javascript:!function(){var e,t;e='body {margin: auto;margin-left: 100px;max-width: 540px;font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif;}',t=document.createElement("style"),t.type="text/css",t.appendChild(document.createTextNode(e)),document.getElementsByTagName("head")[0].appendChild(t)}(); You could change the "540" to "900" for your needs. I prefer this to narrowing the window because I prefer the whole screen to have a uniform background color. Edit I don't think it is infaillible, it didn't work on this page, but it works well on pages with no markup. For more complicated site you may try this: https://oxal.org/projects/sakura/bookmark/ https://oxal.org/projects/sakura/bookmark/

mattowen_uk 6y ago
I didn't think of doing this! I'll edit your snippet to do just the css I need and save it as a bookmark(let). Cheers!

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

nitrogen 6y ago

Might also try resizing the browser window. It's kind of a waste to have a single app fill the entire screen, just to put blank bars on the sides.

dylan604 6y ago
> It's kind of a waste To you. What I or someone not you does is up to them. For example, keeping a window full screen might have a lot of empty/negative space, but sometimes that's the desired effect to cover up all of the other things attempting to grab one's attention without having to hide/minimize other windows.
em-bee 6y ago
resizing the browser window messes with the other tabs which i do prefer in fullscreen, so i'd have to switch back and forth

m-p-3 6y ago

I send the page to Reader View in Firefox when I can. otherwise, Pocket and Outline are great for that.

forgotmypw17 6y ago

here is the more versatile way: <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">

Aardwolf 6y ago

I almost always have 2 vertical side by side windows (meta+left and meta+right shortcuts), that's useful about wide high resolutions

AgoRapide 6y ago

By the way, while we are discussing readability, important message to all hipsters: We boomers prefer high contrast, that is black text on white background. Sites with grey text on grey background I usually skip. Once Firefox was my web browser because it has a very easy setting for forcing exactly this (black on white).

johnchristopher 6y ago

Firefox has a reading mode that is quite handy.