#TechBytes: How to use Chrome's secret 'reader mode'
Often, disruptive ads and pop-ups can ruin the experience of reading articles and blog posts on the web. Their appearance can vary from site to site, but Chrome has a permanent solution to tackle this problem - a dedicated reader mode. It comes built into Chrome 75 and newer versions and has to be enabled manually. Here's how.
What does the reader mode do?
The reader mode, when enabled, loads an article on a clean interface - without any ads, pop-ups or anything that may distract you from reading the content. It has been specifically designed for a simplified reading experience, which means you won't have to deal with any clutter while using it. It is more like reading a newspaper page - only text and images.
But, how to use it?
The reader mode is available on Chrome but isn't active as a default feature. This means you cannot access it directly on the browser and would first have to enable it manually as a flag. Once you do that, a 'reader mode' toggle appears on the address bar when you open an article. Clicking that option opens the same piece in the reader mode.
Follow these steps to enable reader mode flag
To enable the flag associated with the reader mode, launch Chrome and type "chrome://flags/#enable-reader-mode" in the address bar. After that, go to the first option and select the 'enable' option from the toggle appearing just next to it, on the right side. Then, hit the relaunch button at the bottom (after saving all the work) to activate the reader mode feature.
This isn't the only Chrome feature
Reader mode is one of the many capabilities Chrome has on offer in the form of flags. For instance, you can enable the option to use picture-in-picture mode to continue working while watching videos. There are also options to disable annoying tab hover cards and to silence videos playing in tabs through a single click.
