We’ve reported Google to port Reader Mode aka Simplified View from Android to Chrome on Windows, Mac. Linux and Chrome OS platforms, well, Chromium developers made a commit to add “enable reader mode” flag to chrome://flags and confirms it has the same effect of running Chrome from command-line with –enable-dom-distiller switch.
The flag already available and disabled by default, offers this description: “Allows viewing of simplified web pages by selecting “customize and control Chrome > Distill Page” ” and seems Distilled Page menu item is here to stay for Reader mode forever.
How to enable Reader mode in Chrome for desktop
1. If you’re using Chrome 75 Canary, visit chrome://flags page
2. Find “Enable Reader mode” flag
3. Select “Enabled”.
4. Restart the browser.
Note: The feature can be tested even if you’re running Chrome stable version, follow the steps mentioned below for that.
You’ll find “Distill Page” option in Chrome menu, click on it to view an article in Reader Mode, where ads, navigation buttons, sidebar and other distracting elements on the page will vanish and a distilled page appears in a separate tab with less clutter.
4. To exit reader mode, click on the back button. Google will add an icon in omnibox to toggle reader mode in future.
To test Chrome Reader mode in the stable version
1. Right click on Chrome stable shortcut on the desktop
2. In the Target field after .exe, give a space and add the below command
--enable-dom-distiller
3. Run Chrome
From the old test reader mode in Chrome article, we learned that chrome://dom-distiller page is still available and working, where you’ll be able to manually add a page URL and view the article in reader mode.
FYI, the Simplified view offered for non-mobile friendly pages on Android is powered by DOM Distiller which Chrome also uses turn web pages into a text-only format for printing and for a reading list on Chrome iOS.
After the flag, expect Chrome to offer a menu to adjust fonts type and size and change page theme when you’re in Reader Mode.
Its more of pouring old wine in a new bottle, why it took so long for them to offer Reader mode in Chrome, perhaps Google don’t want their advertising business down, what do you say?