Readability based Reader View

Name: Readability based Reader View
Rating: 4.5942 (69 reviews)
Author: tlintspr

strips away clutter like buttons, background images, and changes the page's text size, contrast and layout for better readability. Note: This extension uses the standalone version of Mozilla's Readability library.

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Readability Based Reader View is a powerful Chrome extension that transforms cluttered web pages into clean, easy-to-read articles. Built on Mozilla’s open-source Readability library, it removes buttons, ads, background images, and other distractions, enhancing layout, contrast, and text size for better readability.

Users can toggle between normal and reader views with a simple click or keyboard shortcut, customize the appearance including font and colors, and enjoy additional features like fullscreen mode, text-to-speech (TTS) reading, live HTML editing, saving or printing content, and displaying math formulas with MathJax support. The extension also allows highlighting text, navigating between pages, adding sticky notes, and emailing readable content.

Ideal for heavy content pages, this extension prioritizes user comfort and accessibility while providing an intuitive interface similar to Firefox’s Reader View. With persistent updates and an active feature set, Readability Based Reader View offers a seamless reading experience on Chrome.

Add-on Productivity Accessibility Communication

By:

Daily users:

Rating:

Version:

0.6.9 Last updated: 2023-01-14

Version code:

5511926

Creation date:

2018-08-28

Risk:

Permissions:

storage
activeTab
contextMenus
notifications

Size:

758.48KB

URLs:

Website

Full description:

Source:

Firefox Browser Add-ons

Data ingested on:

2025-07-13

Ranking

# 1,740 ▲ 5

Other rankings

#146 in Tabs

#266 in Appearance

#8 in base keyword 10

#32 in reader keyword 70 ▲ 1

#51 in lead keyword 14 ▲ 1

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User reviews

Users appreciate Readability based Reader View for its high customizability, reliable full-article extraction, and improved visual layouts especially aiding users with vision impairments. It offers a more refined experience than Firefox's default reader, including convenient interface options. However, recurring issues include buggy auto switching, broken text-to-speech, problems triggered by recent updates affecting UI icons and saved pages, and incomplete functionality on some sites like Reddit.

Pros

Highly customizable reader mode offering more options than Firefox's default reader view
Reliable with effective content extraction that preserves full articles unlike some competitors
Supports users with vision problems by improving readability and enabling easy document export
Provides a beautiful and calming default layout enhancing reading experience
Has convenient interface elements, such as an address bar icon instead of a toolbar icon, improving accessibility

Cons

Auto switching to reader view is buggy and often fails on many pages
Text-to-speech functionality is broken or unreliable, sometimes only playing from the beginning and stopping abruptly
Recent updates have caused issues with UI elements such as icon changes and incorrect framing of saved HTML pages
Does not work well on certain websites like Reddit where it fails to show full content in reader view

Recent reviews

by as*****, 2025-06-27

Customizable reader mode, 'nuff said. Basically what Firefox used to have before they removed it.

by ha*****, 2025-04-20

by wo*****, 2025-02-04

View all user reviews ›

Extension safety

Risk impact

Risk impact measures the level of extra permissions an extension has access to. A low risk impact extension cannot do much harms, whereas a high risk impact extension can do a lot of damage like stealing your password, bypassing your security settings, and accessing your personal data. High risk impact extensions are not necessarily malicious. However, if they do turn malicious, they can be very harmful.

Readability based Reader View requires very minimum permissions.

Risk impact analysis details

Medium Enables sending notifications which can be spammed but have minimal direct security impact.

Risk likelihood

Risk likelihood measures the probability that a Firefox add-on may turn malicious. This is determined by the publisher and the Firefox add-on reputation on Firefox Browser Add-ons, the amount of time the Firefox add-on has been around, and other signals about the Firefox add-on. Our algorithms are not perfect, and are subject to change as we discover new ways to detect malicious extensions. We recommend that you always exercise caution when installing a Firefox add-on.

Readability based Reader View has earned a fairly good reputation and likely can be trusted.

Risk likelihood analysis details

High This extension has low user count. Unpopular extensions may not be stable or safe.
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