How To Read An Article On Reader Mode For Mac

In October of last year I wrote about a way to view Web pages in Chrome for Android without any of the distracting ads or other page elements. This feature, called Reader Mode, presents only the elements within the body of the story, so you can stay focused on the text and pertinent images.

Now this feature can now be enabled on the desktop version of Chrome for Windows, according to SlashGear, but it carries a new name: Distill mode. Here's how to use it on your desktop:

Read An Article On Yahoo

Step 1: Locate your shortcut for opening Chrome, whether it's on your taskbar, desktop or within the Start menu. Right-click it and open the Properties settings.

It makes reading websites a native-like experience in Metro mode. Reading View is available in Internet Explorer 11, which is included by default as part of Windows 8.1.

Step 2: Next to 'Target' you will see the file path for the Chrome application. Add a space and then the following words to the end of the text:

--enable-dom-distiller

Step 3: Click Apply and then close down all instances of Chrome. If you are using Hangouts or Google Now for your desktop, you will need to close the icon in your system tray, too.

When you want to test out the Distill mode: Open Chrome from the shortcut you edited, then click the hamburger (three lines) icon in the top right-hand corner and choose Distill page.

The Distill feature is a little wonky in terms of how well it will reformat the page, but is a great option on sites that use flashing or video advertisements. What do you think?

(Via SlashGear)

Music or TV is great to play in the background while you do other things, but what if you have articles you want to read instead? Reader Steve shows us how to make OS X read to you with a keyboard shortcut.

If you don't have time to set aside for immersing yourself in that cool article or blog post, just keep this keyboard shortcut around:

Sometimes I just don't feel like watching TV, or I'm in the middle of an article and want to finish it while I make breakfast in the morning. I found that OS X's text-to-speech feature is actually a really nice way to keep reading uninterrupted, and most people probably don't even realize how easy it is.

Just open up System Preferences, go to the Speech pane, and hit the Text to Speech tab. Check the 'Speak selected text when the key is pressed' box, and set the key to something simple (I use Command+Shift+R). Then, when you're browsing the web, just select the article you want read and hit your shortcut to hear it read out loud. II usually send articles to Instapaper first, to avoid it getting confused by images, ads, and other formatting. I've found the default voice of Alex is best, and isn't distractingly computer-sounding.