Google Chrome will get a Reader Mode for distraction-free desktop browsing

By Chuong Nguyen April 18, 2019

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Google will soon allow users of its Chrome browser to read the content of webpages without distractions. Google had started testing a new Reader Mode on its experimental Chrome Canary browser and, if successful, the feature could make its way to a future public release of Chrome.

Reader Mode works by removing unnecessary content on a webpage that may distract users from the main content that they are trying to focus on, and the feature has been found on competing browsers like Firefox, Edge, and Apple’s Safari. Though Google’s Chrome browser for Android devices does support Reader Mode — it is actually called Simplified view — the feature has not been active on Google’s desktop offering until now.

Recommended Videos

If you are running Google’s Chrome Canary browser, you can enable Reader Mode and test out this feature. Provided you’re on the most recent Canary build, you can enable the feature by navigating to chrome://flags/#enable-reader-mode on your browser to toggle Reader Mode on. Chrome Canary will prompt you to restart the browser after Reader Mode has been enabled.

After you complete the setup of Reader Mode, you can begin to activate its functionality by navigating to any webpage. Once you navigate to a webpage, you can hit the menu button at the top right-hand corner on the Chrome Canary browser window, designated by three vertically stacked dots, and select “Distill page,” which will enable Reader Mode for the page. Once Reader Mode is enabled, distracting ads, photos, and other content that is deemed irrelevant will be removed.

At this time, Google does not have plans to enhance Reader Mode beyond this view, ZDNet reported. Reader Mode, as it is implemented on Chrome Canary at this time, is just a port of the Chrome for Android’s Simplified view feature. Other browsers, like Firefox, offer more robust features for Reader mode, including the option to customize how text is displayed.

Though Google may be late to the game with its support for a Reader Mode for the desktop — Apple’s Safari browser introduced the feature as early as 2010 — it’s still a nice addition for those who don’t want to be distracted with promoted content, ads, comments, and other elements on a webpage.

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Silicon Valley-based technology reporter and Giants baseball fan who splits his time between Northern California and Southern…

Computing

This new Google Chrome feature could make the internet more pleasant

The internet isn't the most hospitable place in the world, that's for sure. A new feature may be coming to the Chrome web browser that could make the interaction between people and websites a bit more pleasant -- tipping.

As mentioned in a Chrome Platforms Status blog post, Google Chrome plans to add Web Monetization technology that the Web Platform Incubator Community Group is working on to make it easier for users to tip their favorite sites.

Computing

Google Chrome has its own version of Window’s troubled Recall feature

google chrome version of recall blog header

Google has announced a number of AI features for the Chrome web browser, one of which can search through your browsing history using plain language. It's a bit like a toned-down version of Microsoft's Recall feature, which did this on the level of the entire operating system.

The example given entails typing the following question into your search history: "What was that ice cream shop I looked at last week?" Chrome will then dig through and pull up sites relevant to your question. It'll then suggest a website as the "AI Best Match."

Computing

Update your Chrome browser now to gain this critical security feature

Google Chrome icon in mac dock.

Yesterday, in a blog post on Google's security blog, Willian Harris from Chrome's Security Team said that Google is improving the security of Chrome cookies on Windows PCs by adopting a similar method used in macOS to help protect users from info-stealing malware.

The security update addresses session cookies that authenticate your identity when you switch apps without logging back in. Google wants to adopt the security system used by Keychain on macOS and start using "a new protection on Windows," which updates Data Protection API (DPAPI) and brings a new security tool called "application-bound" encryption.