I depend on my browser’s reading mode. Why? Sometimes web pages can become almost unreadable because of ads; too many ads — or poorly executed ads — can bring a web browser to a slow crawl. This can be a real problem when my goal is to read something and not be interrupted.
Also: 7 features that make Brave such a good browser
What is reading mode? Essentially, reading mode presents content without the extraneous bits. Instead of ads and the like, you only get what’s important… the words (and images). Reading mode is enabled on a per-page basis and can relieve a great deal of frustration when you’re on websites that don’t quite understand how user-friendly presentation of content should come before ads.
How do you use reading mode on your browser of choice? Let me walk you through the process for some of the more popular web browsers.
How to use reading mode in every top web browser
Chrome
The first thing to do is open Chrome and point it to the web page you’d like to view in reading mode.
Right-click on a blank section of the page, select “open in reading mode” from the context menu, and a sidebar will appear with the content in reading mode. Do note that you can then pin the reading mode icon to the toolbar, so you have quicker access to the feature.
Safari
Open Safari and point it to a web page you want to view in reading mode.
Once the page loads, you should see a small icon on the far left side of the address bar that looks like a page of paper. The one thing about that icon is that it disappears after a few seconds, so make sure you click it soon after the page loads.
One cool thing with Safari is that you can automatically enable reading mode for specific sites, which means every page will default to reading mode.
Firefox
Open Firefox and point it to a page you want to view in reading mode.
With Firefox, the feature is called Reading View. After a page loads, you’ll see the Reading View icon near the right edge of the address bar. The difference between the Firefox and Safari icons is that it doesn’t vanish from sight on Firefox. Click that icon and the page you’re on will be presented in reading mode.
Edge
Open the Edge browser and point it to a page you want to view in Reading Mode (called Immersive Mode).
You should see a small book icon near the right edge of the address bar. Click that icon to open the current page in reading mode.
Also: 5 ways to improve your Chrome browser’s security (and why you should)
Brave
Open Brave and point it to a web page you want to view in reading mode (called Speedreader).
After the page loads, you’ll see a small page icon near the right edge of the address bar. Click that icon to enable reading mode (aka Speedreader).
Opera
For the Opera browser, you must install a third-party extension called Reader View to enable reading mode.
Once you’ve installed the extension, you can load a page and click the Reader View button in the extension “pill” to the right of the address bar.
With each of these browsers, you can enable/disable reading mode at will for a web page. If you want to switch out of reading mode, click the associated icon and you’ll be back to full/normal viewing mode.