Readability
Readability is a simple tool that makes reading on the Web more enjoyable by removing the clutter around what you are reading.
Readability is a new Firefox add-on that makes reading web pages simpler and more enjoyable. The system strips the superfluous information and shows the main content in a single column of easy-to-read text. It is also a precious tool for printing the web pages in less.
Readability has 64 different styling options. You can choose to style in different colors, change the reading fonts and adjust the size of the text. Users can also add a Toolbar button to the navigation toolbox. Other than the add-on icon Readability supports Toolbar buttons, keyboard short-cuts, panel options and send via email functionality.
Readability contains Autoscroll functionality, too. As the name suggests Autoscroll functionality will let you scroll the pages automatically without using your mouse or keyboard. After you activate the Readability and simplify the page, pressing CTRL + SHIFT + A keyboard combination to start using the Autoscroll.
Readability add-on does not work with No Script unless I allow the main site for the page (not really necessary to view most sites). The Readability bookmark does work with NS most of the time you just need to allow arc90.com. Can you fix?
I really like the Readability app.
Hi Paul,
Thanks for the bug report. I will look into the issue and will create a workaround for the problem if possible.
I really love the Readability concept; I successfully installed it as a bookmarklet, and then downloaded the Readability add-on in hopes that it might provide some sort of keyboard shortcut. Is there any chance you could add a keyboard shortcut to your add-on? (There doesn’t seem to be any way to assign a keyboard shortcut to a bookmarklet in Firefox, unfortunately.) Still, a nice add-on — thanks!
Hi Darin,
Next version will add a shortcut support for the add-on.
Hi,
Great little addon – thanks.
One problem for me: none of the settings for Style, Size and Margin are remembered after restarting Firefox. Should they be?
I’m using 0.4 with FF3.6b5.
Hi David,
Currently that feature is missing. Next versions will bundle that functionality.
Hi Baris,
That’s great. Thanks.
Happy new year!
I see you added keyboard support for Readability as promised in 0.4, though it took a bit of hunting to find it! (Option+Command+R for those who are wondering :-) Thanks!
Hi Darin,
Thanks for the tip. I added it to the How to Use Guide page for Mac users.
I just installed the newest readability and I can’t find the “R” icon for my toolbar in the “Customize” toolbar area. I have this icon on the Firefox on my desktop, but not the Firefox on my pc windows laptop.
Hello Ailien,
First time someone is reporting such a problem. Maybe one of the other add-on or theme you use is causing problem. Disable them and re-check.
One of the current annoyances for me is that I tend to close all of my tabs when I’m done with them. It leaves Firefox (or, in my case, Minefield) running, but with no open windows. Unfortunately, this appears to also reset the current instance of Readability, which means that the preferences I set during this session (font size and margin width) disappear, even though I haven’t actually shut down the application. Between this and Minefield’s frequent crashes, it leaves me having to fix the Readability settings — a lot. A version of the add-on that saved its preferences would really make it much more enjoyable to use! (I’m working around it by refraining from my long-ingrained habit of not closing the last tab, but I still have to deal with crashes and nightly build updates.) Still, nice work, and it’s much appreciated!
Hi Darin,
Yes the settings are not saved currently. I have scheduled the setting save support for version 0.6.
This is a great program. I have only one issue with it. When I read forum or article with comments, it doesn’t show the comments. Very often comments are very important and I think it should show them. The same is with Facebook too.
A note: when I read forum which comments are paginated, if the main article is not on the page nothing is shown.
Hi Raicho,
Because forum topics (even the main article like first post) are composed of comments, it is not possible to distinguish them as content. Readability checks for the content not the comments.
Hooray — selections are now permanently saved in 0.6!
By the way, I’ve made one minor improvement to the Readability functionality. I’ve installed the add-on “Stylish” and then added the following rule:
@media print
{
#readTools, #readFooter { display:none ! important; }
a { text-decoration:none ! important; color:black ! important; }
}
When printing, this turns off the Readability “link tools” (which have no use when printing), plus the oddly ugly footer, and makes all links appear like any other text.
I don’t know if there would be some way to incorporate this into the Readability add-on itself, or if overriding the Arc90 stylesheets would be presumptuous. (I’ve prodded them about these issues on my own; maybe they’ll do something about them and this can be incorporated into a future release of the Readability add-on.)
As always, nice work, Baris!
Update to my previous Stylish stylesheet for Readability; this helps it to play a bit nicer with non-Readability formatting by sticking #readOverlay in front of everything:
@media print
{
#readOverlay #readTools, #readOverlay #readFooter { display:none ! important; }
#readOverlay a { text-decoration:none ! important; color:black ! important; }
}
Hi Darin,
Thanks for the userstyles. Those userstyles can be added into addon but overriding footer may cause recognition problems with Arc90. The footer removal option should either be provided by Arc90 or Firefox users may try the Stylish method as you do.
Baris, I agree wholeheartedly that it would be ideal if Arc90 made suitable changes to their own stylesheets; it appears they’ve made some steps in that direction, which is a good sign. I have no problem giving credit where credit is due — such as the Arc90 footer — but their print media CSS rules are obviously just an afterthought thus far. Thankfully there are other extensions such as Stylish that can correct these shortcomings!
Hi Baris,
One small issue I have with Readability is the very large jump in font size between ‘Small’ and ‘Medium’. ‘Small’ is very small and ‘Medium’ is large.
Would it be possible to either fix this within your addon? Or offer an ‘Extra Small’ which is the same as current ‘Small’ and then create a new ‘Small’ which is somewhere in between current ‘Small’ and ‘Medium’?
Thanks.