Chrome Extension For Improved Readability

Posted on 03/26/2010 by | 27 Comments
Image representing Arc90 as depicted in CrunchBase

Image via CrunchBase

The Google Chrome Extensions library is filled with many of the same add-ins that FireFox users have enjoyed all along. My favorite Chrome Extentions Zemanta, Diigo, Chome SEO and SEO Site Tools. [tweetmeme source=”ileane”]Vote on Blog Engage

I recently installed a Google Chrome extension called Readability Redux. I learned about this plugin from Bruce Ganek in Making Webpages Easier to Read – The Readability Bookmarklet. Here’s  the installation demo from the developer Arc90, and here’s a closer look at Readability in Episode #021 of  Ms. Ileane Speaks Podcast.

I hope that using this tool will address the concerns of some website owners over the unfair use of browser adblockers. With Readability users will catch a glimpse of the ads served on monetized sites before switching to an uncluttered ad-free, sidebar-free view of any blog post. You can also email the post to others from the Readability view.  Why don’t you give it a try?

Do you have favorite extension for Google Chrome?

UPDATE: On June 15, Arc90 announced 2 features have been added to the Readability extension for Chrome:

  1. Converts links in text to footnotes
  2. Keyboard Shortcuts

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27 responses to “Chrome Extension For Improved Readability”

  1. bbrian017 | 03/26/2010 at 12:30 pm |

    Ileane do you ever have issues when you let Chrome sit for a little bit and then go and try to use it again? Try and have 4 or 5 tabs open, let the browser sit for about an hour and try to navigate pages. You will see it’s so laggy or perhaps it’s an issue on my end.

    • ileaneb | 03/26/2010 at 1:46 pm |

      Brian, I don’t normally keep lots of tabs open at once because of that would happen even when I used IE8. I’ll pay more attention to it now. What other browser are you using besides Chrome?

  2. Suresh Khanal | 03/26/2010 at 1:04 pm |

    So, the time has come to switch to Chrome from this hot Firefox.

    Regarding Ad blocks, I believe Google and other ad networks will look for some workaround or change the way of advertising. After all websites can’t run without funding!

    • ileaneb | 03/26/2010 at 1:38 pm |

      Suresh, I think there is a very small number of people that know about adblockers. If I wasn’t blogging I wouldn’t even know there was such a thing. Thanks for your feedback.

      • Suresh Khanal | 03/29/2010 at 6:44 am |

        Haaaa….. Yes Ileane that may be the another facet…lol people can’t even open attachments in their mail.

        But as web population grows more educated ‘Ad Blindness’ – a severe disease and worst headache for webmasters and bloggers – will be increasing. When advertisers start realizing that all of their ads are beinig blocked, will this form of advertising survive? I wonder what will be the future trend of Ads!

  3. Evelyn | 03/26/2010 at 1:06 pm |

    This is cool! Sometimes, I want to do away with all of the clutter and just focus on reading the article without any distractions. This extension helps one focus on the article. I like it! 🙂

  4. Kissie | 03/26/2010 at 1:32 pm |

    Yes, indeed! This is a tool I can use, I’ll even finish reading a post in its entirety with this one.

    I don’t suffer with any attention disorders but I don’t like to be around a lot of mess/stuff/clutter. Is that another type of disorder? My kids always say I’m a little OCD.

    Nonetheless, thanks for pointing this one out.

    Looking forward to the next….glad I subscribe to your podcasts!

    P.S. (you can add that new bookmark to your toolbar….;-)

    • ileaneb | 03/26/2010 at 1:41 pm |

      Thanks Kissie. I think this tool will be fun to use. I know some sites that serve up a ton of ads before I find any content. This is a nice way to view the web.

  5. Imran Yousaf | 03/26/2010 at 1:51 pm |

    Hmm so you are also fan of google chrome. I got list of four plugins from your post. Actually excessive ads have spoiled websites readability. Now we are forced to use such plugins to avoid huge and excessive ads. Keep exploring Google chrome plugins and share.

  6. Arnab Das | 03/26/2010 at 11:54 pm |

    Readability is a very innovative add on. I think in time it will become very popular. However I found increasing the font size on web pages by pressing CTRL + an easier way to make an article ‘readable’ 🙂

  7. Anne | 03/27/2010 at 2:09 am |

    I can definitely see the appeal with so many cluttered blogs around. That said, I do have a problem with stripping ads away from content. Basically, it’s an ad blocker and that’s not very fair towards the producers of that content, who rely on the ads to support their work.

    I believe in respecting the webmaster’s wishes and viewing the site as they intended me to. If I don’t like their layout and feel it’s too cluttered, then I’ll probably won’t read through and will be less likely to come back.

    • ileaneb | 03/27/2010 at 6:01 am |

      Hi Anne, I appreciated your contribution to this post. There’s always another side to the coin.

      Thanks for your input.

    • Suresh Khanal | 03/29/2010 at 7:04 am |

      I agree with you Anne. Should it not be considered ‘DISTORTION’ to present any content the other way than it was designed without the knowledge and consent of owner?

      • Mitchell Allen | 07/06/2010 at 10:36 pm |

        I know this is a late comment, however, I feel compelled to suggest that there is no contract between the producer and the consumer. the contract is between the ad network and the content producer. 🙂

        Cheers,

        Mitch

  8. Nile | 03/27/2010 at 6:18 am |

    I am not a Chrome user. It is not as fast as it seems…and does not do much for web developers like myself. It is better to use Opera or Safari for a faster web browser experience, and even Firefox does a great job as long as you do not have a lot of browser add-ons.

    • ileaneb | 03/27/2010 at 6:57 am |

      Hi Nile, thanks for visiting. I haven’t tried Opera or Firefox yet. Readability can be added to Firefox.

      You might be interested in reading about recent testing and security issues for browsers here http://www.downloadsquad.com/2010/03/25/pwn2own-2010-google-chrome-is-the-last-man-standing/

      Pwn2Own 2010 is under way, and after day one of the annual security showdown the results are darn near an exact replica of last year’s. Safari was the first to fall, followed by Internet Explorer 8 on Windows 7. Firefox on Windows 7 x64 was also taken down, as was the iPhone’s mobile Safari. Google Chrome, however, has yet to succumb.

      Opera hasn’t been tested yet.

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  11. gbvaz | 06/11/2010 at 12:59 pm |

    Hi Ileane, good to know that you are taking advantage of the best tools that Google Chrome and its extensions have to offer! Some of them I didn’t know about. Thanks for the links and videos.

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  13. Mitchell Allen | 07/06/2010 at 10:29 pm |

    Hi Ileane,

    I’ve been using NoScript on Flock. It does a great job of making ads disappear. Fairness be sotted – I don’t want to see them 🙂

    As you know, I’m just beginning to play with Chrome, so I don’t have any extensions installed. I like to see how fast it works without them.

    Cheers,

    Mitch

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