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The Safari Reader Arms Race
JimLynch writes "Apple, by adding Reader to Safari 5, is essentially trying to force an e-book style interface onto the web reading experience. It will never work out over the long haul because web publishers will resist and the end result will be an arms race, with publishers on one side and Apple on the other." Another unmentioned issue is that sometimes it doesn't work. I've found pages where content is omitted from the reader UI.
Yeah, if they wanted to force it, they'd have put it in IE, not Safari.
Word.
Quote from his first Safari Reader bashing article:
"To build a feature like this into their browser and then arrogantly dismiss web advertising as “visual distractions” shows a serious insensitivity to the business model of web publishers."
Riiiiight. And, to build a web page that looks like jimlynch.com and then arrogantly dismissing my reading experience shows a serious insensitivity to your reader.
Hey Jim -- your business model fucking sucks. Adapt or GTFO. I guess I should turn off my popup blocker too, for the sake of your precious revenue.
Try AutoPager for Firefox, it addresses several of your concerns, and from what I gather is far more configurable.
Yes, the point being: If you don't like it, don't go there. Find content that doesn't have annoying ads and multi-page content.
Apple is, ultimately, selling their product (Safari, selling in the sense of trying to get marketshare) on the backs of content producers.
"Look at all this clean content we bring you!" (when actually they don't bring anything, and undermine that which they claim to make easier to consume)