Reading View

Bronze Contributor

An experimental version of Reading View is available using edge://flags: #edge-reading-view.   

 

I've been checking it out this morning, running Edge (Classic) reading view and Edge Chromium reading view in tandem, opening reading view on identical web pages in each browser.

 

The results were interesting. 

 

Reading view in the two browsers operate quite differently, and not always consistently, as the following screenshots demonstrate (Edge (Classic) is always on the left, Edge Chromium always on the right):

 

RV-1.jpg

 

RV-2.jpg

 

RV-3.jpg

 

RV-4.jpg

 

I haven't done enough work yet to start identifying/isolating the issues in Edge Chromium reading view, but you might be interested in taking a look at the feature.

6 Replies

I've been using the experimental reading view (edge://flags - edge-reading-view) for a few more days now, and I think that reading view is functioning reasonably well at this point. 

 

Like reading view in Edge (Classic), reading view in Edge Chromium is unpredictable about when it will, and when it will not, render graphics in reading view (see the initial post for examples), and that can be a problem when reading technical articles (e.g. an article I read this morning about a security bug that contained a process flowchart essential to understand the issue).  I don't what lie behind the graphics problem (sometimes Edge (Classic) reading view doesn't display, other times Edge Chromium reading view doesn't display, and it seems almost random) and the problem is not endemic, so it is probably something to learn to live with in Edge Chromium, just as it was in Edge (Classic).

 

I use reading view primarily to read longer, often technical, web articles (stuff that is long enough that I want to be able to read it without ads and other visual distractions).  I am coming to prefer Edge Chromium's vertical reading scroll to Edge (Classic's) horizontal scroll.  Vertical scrolling seems to work better with laptops with 1366 x 768 resolution on a 11-13" screen than does horizontal scrolling. 

 

That's just a matter of preference, I suppose, but I would not suggest that the Edge team should be in a rush to mimic Edge (Classic)'s reading view, with a "headline" domination the first panel, and horizontal scrolling through subsequent panels

 

I've noticed that Edge Chromium's reading view seems a bit "washed out" -- less crisp -- than Edge (Classic)'s.  I suspect that this is directly related to font rendering in Edge Chromium, discussed extensively in other threads.

 

On the wish list:  Allow users to specify serif or sans-serif font style in reading view.  At present, reading view uses a serif font (most likely Times New Roman), and many users might prefer to use a sans-serif font.

 

I'm going to keep using reading view as much as possible, running it in tandem with reading view in Edge (Classic), to see if I can isolate any serious issues.  So far, so good.

 

 

 

An aside:  Reading view is enabled by default in Dev 76.0.152.0 (as well, I assume in the recent Canary builds), so I've switched off the edge://flags version and am now using the in-built version of reading view.

I've been using Reading View extensively for a week now.  It seems to be functioning fine, with a few quirks, but reading view in Edge (Classic) and Firefox have quirks, too.  The bottom line is that Reading View looks good.

 

I would like to see the Edge team give users the options to:

 

(1)  change the background color from parchment to white;

(2)  change the font from serif to sans-serif; and

(3)  increase the font size.

 

The attached screenshot panes show Reading View in Edge Chromium (current Dev release) with Reading View in Firefox, Edge Chromium left, Firefox right.   The Firefox pane is close to how I would set up Reading View if I had options.  It isn't whim; I'm in my 70's and things like contrast, font and font size make a difference.

 

Reader_View_Suggestion.jpg

Hi @tomscharbach 

Thanks for your feedback. We really appreciate you taking out the time to tell us what you like / dislike about the feature. Regarding the 3 feature requests that you have mentioned (background theme change, font change, font size change), these are in the plan and should come soon. 

Keep trying out the feature and letting us know what you feel :)

@aditya10 I'd like to add my voice to the request for those three reading features.

@NicolSD - Thanks for your response. Feedback noted :)