We previously wrote about a method of printing web pages without all the extra junk, retaining the formatting of the main text so it prints out neatly (Cleaning Up a Webpage for Printing the Easy Way). There is a new add-on for Firefox, called Readability, that allow you to do this with one click and also makes reading and scrolling through web pages simpler and more enjoyable.
Install Readability from
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/46442/.
When we installed Readability, a blue R icon was automatically added to the Firefox status bar.
If you do not see the R icon on the status bar, or if you want it on the toolbar in addition to on the status bar, you can add it to the toolbar manually. To do this, select Toolbars | Customize from the View menu.
On the Customize Toolbar dialog box, scroll down until you see the Readability icon. Click and drag it to the Firefox toolbar.
Click Done to close the Customize Toolbar dialog box.
The Readability button is added to the toolbar. Click the arrow on the right side of the button to access the options for Readability.
You can also access the options for Readability by right-clicking on the R icon on the status bar. These options allow you to select the Style, Size, and the Margin size for the reformatted page. As you select options, they are automatically applied. If you had not applied Readability to the current page, it is automatically applied when you change options. The pop-up box containing the options stays open until you click outside it to close it. This allows you to view the different settings on the text without having to reopen the options box every time.
Here is an example page before applying Readability.
Click the R icon on the status bar or the Readability button on the toolbar to parse the current page. Here is the same page after applying Readability. You can see that this page will print much better.
NOTE: You can also parse the current page by pressing the Ctrl + Alt + R key combination. Mac users use the Command + Option + R key combination.
NOTE: Not all pages can be parsed using Readability. If you try to parse a page using Readability that cannot be parsed, a message displays explaining saying that Readability was unable to parse the page. Readability is meant for reformatting web pages with a lot of text for comfortable reading, not for landing pages or front pages.
Readability provides three convenient buttons in the upper, left corner of the page viewing area.
If you want to view the page in its original format again, click the top button, or the Reload original page button.
NOTE: You can also use the Ctrl + R key combination to reload the original page. Mac users use the Command + R key combination to reload the original page.
To open the standard printing dialog box to print the parsed page, click the middle button, or the Print page button.
To send a link to the web page to someone, click the bottom button, or the Email page button.
When you click the Email page button, a box opens on top of the web page. Enter the requested information and click the Email Page button.
A message displays telling you that a link has been sent to the email address you specified.
NOTE: There is no button or link to close the Email Page box. To close it, click the Readability icon on the status bar, the Readability button on the toolbar (if you added one), or the Reload original page button on the web page.
Readability can be used in Internet Explorer by visiting the Readability website and adding the Readability button to the Favorites toolbar. The main difference is that you cannot change the options without visiting the website again, selecting the desired options, and re-adding the button to the toolbar. To add Readability to Internet Explorer, visit Readability at
http://lab.arc90.com/experiments/readability/.
Before adding Readability to your Favorites in Internet Explorer, you must select the desired settings because these are incorporated into the code for the Favorite link. This is why you must come back to the website and add another Favorite link if you want different settings.
Select the Style, Size, and Margin you want under SELECT YOUR SETTINGS. If you want to convert hyperlinks on the webpage to footnotes, click the Convert hyperlinks to footnotes check box.
The Convert hyperlinks to footnotes option pulls the links out of the article and place them at the end of the article with a matching numbered reference after the originally linked text, just like footnotes in a document.
Once you select your settings, add Readability to your Favorites by right-clicking on the Readability button under ADD YOUR BOOKMARKLET and select Add to Favorites from the pop-up menu.
Readability has an Autoscroll feature, also. You can automatically scroll through web pages at an adjustable speed without using your mouse or keyboard. To start automatically scrolling, press Ctrl + Shift + A.
You can adjust the speed of the scrolling. To increase the speed, press ‘=’. To decrease the speed, press ‘-’. To increase or decrease the speed quickly, press the Shift key while pressing the desired key to change the speed. You can set the scroll speed, also, by pressing a number from 0-9, 0 being standing still and 9 being a skimming speed.
To stop scrolling, press Esc or ‘q’.
Autoscroll does not require you to activate Readability. It works on any long web page, making it easier to read long articles. However, used with Readability activated, your online reading experience is greatly improved.
by Lori Kaufman
I use Clippable. It does much the same thing, and it's free also.
[...] 13Jul We previously wrote about an extension, called Readability, for Firefox (Improve the Reading and Printing of Web Pages in Firefox) that allows you to reformat web pages to remove all the extra junk and retain the formatting of [...]