The Reader View Feature of Mozilla Firefox is Winning Hearts

Distraction-free reading coming your way…

Firefox 38.0.5 FINAL for desktop has been released this year. This new build has three very interesting updates: a Reader View feature, Pocket offline reading services integration, and an improved Hello chat tool.

The Reader View, in particular, is a strong competition to Apple’s Reader mode integrated in Safari. The aim is to provide users with a distraction-free reading mode. 

The function is basic – it extracts and displays the text of an article from the website, on which it is published, hiding all the menus, ads and distractions in the process. Yes, UX has won yet again!

Mozilla has kept it pretty simple and free from a feature clutter. However, you can change the font size and type, and choose a light, dark or sepia backdrop. Most importantly, the Reader View features the Pocket button for its read-it-later services.

Source: Connectwww.com

The purpose:

The feature brings about a smooth and wonderful reading experience to desktop users of Firefox. It shows the minimalist version of a website’s UI, keeping it free from the cacophony of annoying ads and distracting off-canvas menus.

Does it matter?

Of course, yes! Who would not love such an amazing reading experience? And, from a point of view of engaging a viewer, this is an awesome feature. Informative and interesting content matters. But, more than that, a reader’s experience is of more value.

Further, from an SEO point of view, this is definitely going to make a viewer stay for a longer time on websites. Better thank Mozilla for this.

When does it show?

No, you will not see it if you are reading this post. Neither will you get it if you have landed on the home page of a website. However, if you visit a single page or a single post, the feature pops up on the address bar near the reload icon in the form of a tiny book icon.

Source: TechDelve

Click on it to enter the Reader View and bingo! You’re now viewing a page free of ads, menus, social share buttons, header, footer, sidebars and even the comment section! Yes, this feature has been designed for readers out-and-out. Of course, you can revert to the original look anytime!

It’s customizable!

Once you have entered the Reader View, you’ll observe a ‘Type Controls’ feature. Using this, you can shift from Serif to Sans-serif font type, and vice versa. You can also adjust the size of the font using the plus and minus buttons, and change the background tone between light, dark and sepia.

Source: Nevada

Read-it-later!

The ‘Save to Pocket’ feature lets you save the article in Pocket for reading later. Of course, you will need to have a Pocket account for using this feature. You can access saved content from this account anytime, from any device. And, when you are done, you can exit the Reader View with the help of the exit button.

Wrap-up:

The Reader View is not available for a lot of websites at present. However, it is a feature most welcome! Isn’t it making reading experience fantastic?