Mercury Reader for Chrome Provides a Clear, Ad-Free Online Viewing of Articles
Chrome: Even aside from ads, some websites are so cluttered with autoplay videos, sidebars and other distractions that it’s actually hard to stick to one thing you’ve come to read: the message itself. Mercury Reader is a browser extension that makes it easy to read in Chrome.
Firefox users have a read option built right into their browser . And Safari Reader is a similar option for Safari users. Chrome has Reading Mode, but it’s an experimental feature that’s only available on Android devices. Mercury is a robust extension that brings this functionality to your desktop. Once downloaded, click its icon in the toolbar. Mercury will show you a neat clean version of your blog post that almost looks like a printable version, including only the title and content of the article. You can also customize typography and size by clicking the gear icon in the upper right corner of the webpage while it is in Reading View. Several other features in the Chrome Web Store:
- Keyboard shortcut (Cmd + Esc for Mac users, Alt + `for Windows users) to switch to Reader on any page in an article
- Optimizing printing
- Sharing via Facebook, Twitter and Email
Just tap the icon to switch to and from Mercury reading mode. To see for yourself, follow the link below. Yes, and full disclosure, Mercury Reader was developed, at least in part, by former Lifehacker editor Adam Pasch, now at Postlight Labs, the creators of the extension.