Re:Readability - Uncluter what you're reading
by awolf on Monday May 03, 2010 @11:32PM
(#1316952)
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.
Re:Readability - Uncluter what you're reading
by nailer on Tuesday May 04, 2010 @07:40AM
(#1317701)
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.
Re:Readability - Uncluter what you're reading
by pavs on Tuesday May 04, 2010 @12:34AM
(#1317073)
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.
Re:Readability - Uncluter what you're reading
by colonelxc on Tuesday May 04, 2010 @12:43AM
(#1317092)
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.
Re:Readability - Uncluter what you're reading
by pavs on Tuesday May 04, 2010 @01:37AM
(#1317199)
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.
Re:Readability - Uncluter what you're reading
by petercooper on Tuesday May 04, 2010 @12:45AM
(#1317096)
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.
Re:Readability - Uncluter what you're reading
by pavs on Tuesday May 04, 2010 @01:24AM
(#1317172)
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.
Re:Readability - Uncluter what you're reading
by justindz on Tuesday May 04, 2010 @08:41AM
(#1317828)
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.
Re:Readability - Uncluter what you're reading
by blasdel on Tuesday May 04, 2010 @07:56AM
(#1317724)
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
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.
Re:Readability - Uncluter what you're reading
by driekken on Tuesday May 04, 2010 @02:32AM
(#1317306)
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.
The app: http://michaelgrinich.com/hackernews/
I wish there was a way to track the use of readability on a site actually. Would be good feedback for web designers.
Since when did any content creators, HN included, support stripping non-offensive ads from ad-supported content?
Should be easy? I have to look in to it.
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.
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.
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
EDIT: Heroku currently has a DB issue, which they're working on. Link still down, but hopefully up soon.
(It is awesome, though)
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
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.
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.
I moved to Readable now - http://readable-app.appspot.com/