Thursday, May 26, 2011

Making webpages "READABLE"

I've written about webpage clutter before. So many pages have such a wealth of links and widgets and boxes and what-not that it becomes a challenge to focus on the central content. This is an issue, especially if you are projecting an article for your class to discuss, or you have asked an easily distracted student to read from a webpage on his/her own. While there are some 3rd party tricks for fixing this (i.e. Readability), if you use Safari as your default browser, you can use the built-in  'READER" feature. While this is not a new feature -  it has been around for a while - it is so easy to use. (FYI - Not every site will invoke the reader button.) One click on the reader button to the right of the URL address bar will deliver a clutter-free, resizable, printable view that makes reading a breeze. Aseem Kishor's blog "Switching to Mac" has a nice write-up on this feature. To switch back to the regular view, simply click on the "Reader" button again. So easy. (This is also a great plus for older eyesight!)