An experimental reader mode will ship in the next version of GNOME Web, aka Epiphany.
The feature is already available to try in the latest development builds of the GTK Webkit-based web browser, released this week as part of the GNOME 3.29.3 milestone.
Reader mode (also known as “reader view”) is a toggle option that strips a web page down to its bare text.
All bespoke styling, background images, buttons, branding and page ephemera is removed.
You get a distraction-free, text version of a web page.
Because reader mode use its own custom .css to present web content it is (sometimes) possible to adjust a page’s text size, background color, and/or layout for improved readability. There’s no indication (yet) of customisation options being available in GNOME Web’s version.
Reader Mode Isn’t New, Of Course
A reader mode of some sort is available in many browsers, most famously in Safari (macOS & iOS) and Mozilla Firefox on both desktop and mobile. A reader mode for Google Chrome was on the way at one point, but has since vanished from the roadmap.
As I don’t have the latest version of GNOME Web/Epiphany to hand I can’t test how well the feature works first-hand.
But as someone who is a big fan of reader mode in other browsers, I do look forward to trying it out.
Image credit: Alex/BabyWogue