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A useful feature of Firefox reader mode on Android is that if you bookmark a page from inside reader mode, Firefox saves it locally and you can go back to it fr

A useful feature of Firefox reader mode on Android is that if you bookmark a page from inside reader mode, Firefox saves it locally and you can go back to it from the bookmarks even when you are offline. I used it to read long web pages (usually fiction) on planes or in the middle of nowhere. Edit: it works only on older Firefox versions. This feature was removed sometime in the last months.

alkyon 5y ago
Interesting, but doesn't seem to work for me.
- pmontra 5y ago
  You're right. I checked with the new Firefox (the one with the "too many taps" GUI from one year ago) and it doesn't work anymore. I'm using the old Firefox on my main phone and it explicitly says "Saved offline" when I bookmark a Reader Mode page. The new Firefox on the backup phone says "Bookmark saved". One more reason to stay on the old Firefox.
  - _1a 5y ago
    This was one of the features I was actually sad to see go when I updated Firefox. I used this feature a lot as it was mainly manuals that I was saving. They also replaced the default start page to be Collections instead of bookmarks, which b of course for me was empty. I think I've got used to the new layout that I probably won't downgrade just for the offline capabilities.
  - morsch 5y ago
    Yup, it didn't make the transition to Fenix. That was such a cool feature. Maybe I should downgrade.
spupy 5y ago
That sounds almost exactly like the functionality that Firefox' Pocket provides. The app downloads a reader view of everything you put in there so you can read offline.
- codq 5y ago
  Pocket sometimes fails to save the article locally, and forces 'Web View', rendering it useless unless loaded with a data connection. I feel like Pocket could use some updates, it seems underloved from the Mozilla team, especially for an app that purportedly generates revenue for the company.
  - dredmorbius 5y ago
    That forced-web-view thing is absolutely maddening. I'd actually prefer a placeholder "we couldn't render this", which leaves the tagging tools available, to redirecting to the remote site.
Veen 5y ago
Safari's Reading List feature does something similar. Or it's supposed to. In my experience it often fails to save articles so you can read them offline.

alkyon 5y ago

Interesting, but doesn't seem to work for me.

pmontra 5y ago
You're right. I checked with the new Firefox (the one with the "too many taps" GUI from one year ago) and it doesn't work anymore. I'm using the old Firefox on my main phone and it explicitly says "Saved offline" when I bookmark a Reader Mode page. The new Firefox on the backup phone says "Bookmark saved". One more reason to stay on the old Firefox.
- _1a 5y ago
  This was one of the features I was actually sad to see go when I updated Firefox. I used this feature a lot as it was mainly manuals that I was saving. They also replaced the default start page to be Collections instead of bookmarks, which b of course for me was empty. I think I've got used to the new layout that I probably won't downgrade just for the offline capabilities.
- morsch 5y ago
  Yup, it didn't make the transition to Fenix. That was such a cool feature. Maybe I should downgrade.

spupy 5y ago

That sounds almost exactly like the functionality that Firefox' Pocket provides. The app downloads a reader view of everything you put in there so you can read offline.

codq 5y ago
Pocket sometimes fails to save the article locally, and forces 'Web View', rendering it useless unless loaded with a data connection. I feel like Pocket could use some updates, it seems underloved from the Mozilla team, especially for an app that purportedly generates revenue for the company.
- dredmorbius 5y ago
  That forced-web-view thing is absolutely maddening. I'd actually prefer a placeholder "we couldn't render this", which leaves the tagging tools available, to redirecting to the remote site.

Veen 5y ago

Safari's Reading List feature does something similar. Or it's supposed to. In my experience it often fails to save articles so you can read them offline.