Some Useful Bookmarklets

I spend a fair amount of time reading on the internet (surprise, surprise).  I use a couple of bookmarklets that make my reading a little more enjoyable.  First, bookmarklets are like bookmarks but they create an action rather than taking you to a webpage.  They are intended to be placed in the bookmark bar at the top of your browser page.  Then clicking on the bookmarklet launches the pre-programmed action.

Readability

The first bookmarklet I want to mention is Readability from Arc90 Labs.  This simple little bookmarklet does some very useful things.  First, if you are reading a page on, say, The New York Times, you can click the Readability bookmarklet and you get the article double-space on a plain white background sans all clutter.  See the images below.

Original Version

With Readability

You can see that the Readability version contains the images as well as the text but gets rid of the clutter. An added bonus is that Readability contains a Print button in the upper left corner of page that allows you to print a clean copy of the story.  With the "Print to pdf" capability on OSX printing, you can also save the story as a pdf file.  You can also use the e-mail button in Readability to send the clean version to someone else.

Installing the bookmarklet couldn't be simpler.  Set the parameters of how you want the Readability conversion to look on Arc90's webpage and then simple drag the bookmarklet to the Bookmark Bar.  That's it.  It is now active.

Read Later

The second bookmarklet I use is Read Later from Instapaper.  When I am browsing and I see something interesting but I don't want to read it at that moment, I hit the Read Later bookmarklet that I downloaded from Instapaper and the current webpage is saved to my queue on the Instapaper website.  When I log in to the website, I can see all the articles I have marked previously and go back and read them.  I can also designated the best with a star and archive them or delete them.

Instapaper also has a free iPod Touch reader app and you can set up your queue of reading material for loading on a Kindle.  See the website for details on these features.  All in all, I find it useful.  Of course, I  also have the problem that if I didn't have time to read it immediately, I may never have time to read it. But it does give me an out if I need it.