Google Chrome Extension: Readability

An article by OmniDragon    No Comments

About three days ago, I vowed to myself that I would use a browser other than Safari, exclusively, for at least a week. About three days in, I started really missing my Reader feature in Safari that makes all the font bigger, allows me to read and print without all the sidebar noise, and is extremely easy to use and navigate. I’ve written about Reader before.

The other day, I ran a Google search to see what I could come up with. That’s when I found out about the Readability extension for Google Chrome. It has some of the same functionality that Reader in Safari has. It doesn’t darken out the background. It completely reloads the page showing just the text of the article, nothing else. And, like Reader, Readability has a few gadgets to make it more appealing. Like being able to print with one button, enlarge the font with ease, or even share an article via Twitter, Facebook, or E-Mail.

Readability

Safari Reader

There’s a screenshot of both Reader in Safari and Readability in Google Chrome for comparison.

The only thing I don’t like, really, about Readability, is that it’s not as instantaneous as Safari Reader is. It takes a second or two to reload the page. With Safari Reader, there is no waiting, because you’re not reloading the page, or calling on a service from another website. It’s all native and local, and happens on the spot.

This week has actually been quite a long one, what with readability issues, adblock issues, and getting to know an interface that I haven’t really tried in the past. It’s been made a more enjoyable week, however, given the vast amount of extensions there are for Google Chrome that have to do with making Google+ a more engaging and fun experience. Like being able to roll up comments, mute GIFs, and zoom in on photos with just a mouseover. Unfortunately, for me, going over to the Safari extensions page and looking for extensions like the ones mentioned above, is like going to a ghost town searching for some action…when all you get is the lonely tumbleweed drifting by.

Then again, maybe there are other places to get extensions for Safari that I haven’t looked at yet. Maybe there are plugins like these that I just haven’t found. Are there? Where are they?!