If you have a habit of reading articles online, you must have felt the frustration that arises from the presence of distracting elements present on the webpage. But we can get rid of annoying ads, pop-ups or videos on online content by using reader mode extension. Browsers like Safari offer a built-in reader mode that eliminates distracting elements to help you focus and enjoy reading. However, Chrome still lacks in this matter. Some time ago, we heard that Google will add a reader mode in Chrome, but we cannot say exactly when it will arrive.
Until then, you can use the following Chrome reader extensions for a distraction-free and reader-friendly environment. Before you move ahead, check out our other Chrome extensions-related articles that will help you improve your browsing experience.
- Best Chrome Extensions For Productivity
- Best Chrome Extensions For Reading News
- How To Manage Google Chrome Extensions
5 Best Chrome Reader Mode Extension
1. Easy Reader
Easy Reader is the best Chrome reader extension that customizes and improves the readability of long web articles. It is the easiest one to use as well. Once you activate this text reader in Chrome, you just have to click on the text you’d like to read. It will open up a new interface where there are no distracting elements and annoying popups. This reader mode creates an index on the left side of the screen which you can use to skim through the content, especially longer articles.
Pros:
- Easy-to-use, clean and minimalistic interface
- Doesn’t remove JavaScript based content
Cons:
- Crops or resizes images
2. DOM Distiller Reading Mode
This reader mode for Chrome focuses on the important content to provide you with a more focused reading experience. DOM Distiller reading mode removes the unimportant sidebars, share buttons and displays the content in a new interface. The best part about this Chrome reader extension is its speed. It takes just a single click to filter out all the distracting elements from the text instantly.
Pros:
- Process text quickly
- Minimal interface
- Keeps all the embedded photos and videos intact
Cons:
- No themes or font scalability
- Cannot run JavaScript based content
3. Mercury Reader
Mercury Reader instantly clears away the clutter from all of your articles. It is my favorite Chrome reader extension to read long articles, especially those that do not have supporting images and figures because Mercury Reader cannot retain images or videos in the reader mode. Another good thing about this text reader is that it comes with support for Kindle. It lets you send articles to your Kindle device once you set up your account. Besides, it offers dark and light themes, which are usually not present in most of the reader extensions for Chrome.
Pros:
- Impressive user interface
- Additional options for changing text size, font, and themes
- Integration with Kindle
Cons:
- Cannot run JavaScript based content
4. Reader View
With Reader View, you can strip away clutter from your articles such as buttons and background images. This Chrome reader extension also lets you change the text size, contrast, and layout for better readability. You can toggle between normal view and reader view by clicking the page-action button. Reader View works best for web pages that have a lot of content. To personalize the reader mode, use the tools on the left side. It will let you change the text color, background color, font size, and type.
Pros:
- Best for reading long articles and novels online
- Sepia color themes that are relaxing for the eyes
- Options to change the font size and type
Cons:
- Removes attached pictures
- Cannot run JavaScript based content
5. Just Read
This customizable reader extension for Chrome presents online articles in a simplified format to help you focus on the content. It offers default white and dark themes but you can always modify them using a graphical editor or CSS. Just Read even lets you print a custom-styled version of the article. The best part about this Chrome reader extension is that it doesn’t collect personal data from users and it is completely open source software.
Pros:
- Minimalistic interface
- Blocks pop-ups effectively
Cons:
- Some parts of the content (like bullet points) may appear in a jumbled form.
Read articles online with your favorite Chrome reader extension
Among all the text readers mentioned above, Easy Reader is my favorite Chrome extension for reading articles online. However, I’d suggest that you try all of them before settling on the best one. Do let us know which reader mode you like more. In case you’ve come across some other Chrome reader extensions that I have missed in this article, drop the comments below.
