64 - Readability

The internet doesn’t lend itself particularly well to reading great swathes of text. First up - the fact that the words are presented on a giant glowing lamp doesn’t help matters. Its just not the most comfortable feeling to stare at a big white void for 40 minutes. For your retinas, it’s like standing on the surface of the sun.

And then there’s the lack of columns. A well spaced and nicely sized column with justified text offers a very pleasant way to consume words, but they just don’t work on the web. I was pitching the idea to fellow BritishGaming founder Jonathan, but he soberingly reminded me that scrolling up and down and up and down as you finish and start columns, isn’t too fun.

There’s probably a smart way of doing it - an algorithm that takes into consideration your monitor resolution. But it’s just not the way of the web, so such research hasn’t been performed.

And then there’s the very nature of it being on the internet. Cramped text boxes, gross fonts, flashing adverts, distracting sidebars and giant images. That’s one of the things we’re taking into consideration with the new BG - content is king, so let’s not cramp or distract from it.

So, if you’re like me, you’ll find Readability a much needed website. Simply select your desired text formats (including font, size and margin-width) and you’re given a link to drag on your bookmark toolbar. Click the link next time you’re trying to decipher an article on a particularly distracting or ill thought out website and it will extract the text and plonk it on a big blank space for your reading pleasure. Hoorah.

Readability