The other day I was reading an article online on my local paper’s website, and I found myself getting utterly sick of all the ads and random pop-ups that were appearing everywhere, getting in the way of me reading the article. So I thought to myself, “surely there must be a way to get around this”, and after a little while I remembered a really useful feature of most web browsers, which I thought I’d share with you all.
The feature is called “Reader View” or “Immersive Reader”, and it clears out all of the clutter and extra gubbins from around the article and just gives you the headline and the written text. It sometimes removes the pictures as well, which is a shame, but I think it’s a fair trade-off for when you want to focus on what the article itself is saying.
To read an article in the Reader view, open the article and have a look at the right hand side of the address bar at the top. There’ll probably be a few icons there – the one you’re looking for is shaped either like a book with a tiny speaker at the bottom of it (in Microsoft Edge), or like a sheet of paper with text on it (in Firefox and Safari). Google Chrome is still working on their version of Reader View, so hopefully they’ll add this in the future.
Click or tap on that icon to enter the Reader view (on tablets and smartphones, it tends to be a bit more hidden away – look for an AA button first). To get out of the Reader view when you’ve finished reading, you can just click or tap that icon again.
Speaking of reading articles online (although there aren’t any adverts on our site that could get in the way of your reading)…
Articles, eBooks and videos on the Inner Circle
As an Inner Circle member, you’ll find a selection of ebooks in the “Library” part of the Inner Circle website, and you can either read them on the website, download them or print them out for later.
I thought I’d give you a bit more detail about what’s there…
For example, on the shelves you’ll find a book we wrote a few years ago called “Making the Miles Fade” – all about different ways to use technology to keep in touch with your friends and family. It’s a full, 88-page A4 book, complete with lots of pictures of the screen. It guides you through using calls and texts, email, instant messaging, video calling, social media and blogs to bring you closer (metaphorically speaking) to your nearest and dearest.
There’s also “Backing Up Demystified” – a guide to using physical things like flash drives, or a “cloud” online backup, to keep your photos and other personal files safe. Or how about: “All You Need to Know About Music, Radio and Podcasts”, “How to Speed Up Your PC” or “How to Control Your Tablet” – the titles say it all!
Some of these are only available to members – non-members can’t get them anywhere, at any price. Others are (or have been) available to non-members for sale or as free gifts with other books – but Inner Circle members can get them quickly and easily without paying a penny extra.
That’s not all of them, of course (we’ve even got an ebook about ebooks!), and we’ll be adding more in the future. But that gives you a bit of a taste of what’s there.
Or if you prefer your reading in more bite-sized chunks, the Library is also home to our selection of short articles on all things tech. Don’t know your TILs from your NSFWs? Check out our Quick Guide to acronyms in the Social Media section of the Library.
Or for when reading about something just isn’t enough, you might find one of our Video Guides fits the bill. See how the What Three Words app really works, or watch Mike and his mum (what a star!) demonstrate video calling on WhatsApp.
You can read all about the Tech Inner Circle – including what else you get for your membership – here.
Thank you for all of the information and tips,for example,what a difference when reading my local newspaper without the ads. and pop-ups thanks to you.