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Comment by dflock

4 days ago

I want this too! I discovered a really esotieric way to get this: https://duncanlock.net/blog/2024/01/04/super-fast-reader-mod... - but it would be really nice if there was just a way to switch reader mode on permenantly in modern browsers. Apparently Safari can do that, but afaik no other browsers support it.

I really wish browsers were more modular - if the rendering engine and network fetching were easily separable - and you could insert your own steps into that pipeline, you could do all sorts of neat stuff. If I could insert some code of my own in between the fetch and the render, that would be ideal - strip out all ads and malware, optionally remove all scripts or css, run it through readability, etc...

Many of the recent feedback I've received, especially from the E Ink community, suggests developing this project into a browser plugin. I anticipate future development will likely involve both a front-end module and a browser plugin approach. While my time is limited, I will do my best to explore and implement this.

> if the rendering engine and network fetching were easily separable - and you could insert your own steps into that pipeline, you could do all sorts of neat stuff.

Can’t that be done relatively easily with https://mitmproxy.org/?

  • Heh, I know I'm late to the party here - but I actually separate the rendering and network in BrowserBox by running the browser on a remote server and the interface is just a web app on your device.

    Doubly relevant to eInk mode as soon be releasing a text-mode browser which has a verys imilar goal: make the web less noisy, and easier to focus on.

    We try that by putting the web in the terminal. Technically it's similar to how the CloudFlare/S2 remote browser works in that we take rendering instructions from the remote browser and display in your terminal, except instead of rendering everything from the browser engine, we only render the post-layout text boxes! To do this you need to apply a secondary layout pass account for overlaps due to monospace font sizes, and scaling to terminal dimensions.

    That's why I'm thinking that people interested in eInk mode might care about this browser too, a quick demo of which is here: https://youtu.be/Xmt6j-nfc7E

    If you'd like to be among the first to test it out when ready please add your name / email to this list: https://tally.so/r/wbzYzo