Towering Skills LLC

Remove Web Page Clutter with Readability

12 June 2010
Topics: research, Internet, web browsers, web pages, Arc90, Readability, focus, time management

This video and article discuss a wonderful browser add-in tool that will transform your internet search experience.

Making the best use of your time can prove challenging when researching the internet. Most web pages are very cluttered. Banners, ads, pictures, animated boxes, links, and extraneous text strangle legitimate news and articles. This electronic litter diverts your attention and wastes your time.

Fortunately, Arc90.com, a New York based web design firm, has developed a great tool called Readability, which removes this clutter. You see only the main article. With text-only pages, you can focus on what you want to read. You read faster, understand more, and stay on task.

In addition, the tool makes printing or electronic copying articles easier.

Readability works with all popular web browsers—Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox, and Safari. Although Readability does not work on all web pages, it works on most. Click on the Readability button, and the clutter disappears leaving a clean article. The tool is free, and installation is easy.

Try Readability. It will save you time.

Here is how to install Readability on Internet Explorer 8:

  • Make sure your Favorites Toolbar is shown.
    • If you do not see it, right click on any visible tool bar and then left click on the Favorites Bar.
    • Or left click on View, then click on Toolbars, and select the Favorites Bar.
    • The yellow star with the little green arrow is the icon that denotes the Favorites Toolbar.
  • Next go to the web page http://lab.arc90.com/experiments/readability/ and select the Readability settings that appeal to you. You can customize style, font size, and margins. Good initial settings are newspaper style, medium font size, and wide margins. These selections yield comfortable short lines of text that are easy to skim. But, experiment with the settings; you may prefer a different look.
  • The third step is to right click on the gray Readability button and add it to the Favorites Bar. Answer yes to the security alert. Do not add it directly to Favorites; rather, use the drop down menu to select Favorites Bar and then click Add. The Readability button will appear on your toolbar.

With Internet Explorer 7, you need to add the Readability button to your Links Toolbar, rather than to your Favorites Bar. Use the commands:

  • Right click the gray Readability button
  • Left click Add to Favorites
  • Answer yes to the security alert
  • Explore the Create In box to find the Links folder
  • Click Add

Installing the tool on Chrome, Firefox, and Safari is even easier; just drag the Readability button to your toolbar.

Test the tool. Go to a cluttered web page, and click on Readability. Magic. The clutter disappears. You get clean text.