READABILITY

clipped from www.nytimes.com

READABILITY The single best tech idea of 2009, though, the real life-changer, has got to be Readability. It's a free button for your Web browser's toolbar (get it at

lab.arc90.com/experiments/readability).

[Further instructions: Using the Firefox or Safari browser just drag the Readability Icon under "(2) Add your bookmarklet" up to the navigation toolbar. With Internet Explorer. Go to View/Toolbar. Make sure the Favorites bar is checked. Then right click the Readability icon; click on Add to Favorites; click on "Yes" to continue; click on the down arrow in "Create in;" and click on Favorites bar.]

When you click it, Readability eliminates everything from the Web page you're reading except the text and photos. No ads, blinking, links, banners, promos or anything else. Times Square just goes away.

You wind up with a simple, magazine-like layout, presented in a beautiful font and size (your choice) against a white or off-white background with none of this red-text-against-black business. [To get back to the original page refresh or reload your browser.]

Click image to enlarge.

You occasionally run into a Web page that Readability doesn't handle right — no big deal, just refresh the page to see the original. But most of the time, Readability makes the world online a calmer, cleaner, more beautiful place.

Go forth and install it.

Readability : An Arc90 Lab Experiment from Arc90 on Vimeo.

Oh, yeah — and happy high-tech new year.

E-mail: pogue@nytimes.com