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Safari 'reader' view

The uncluttered 'reader' view has been removed from the NY Times webpage that I access with Safari. It was very useful. Was its removal due to a flaw in the latest OS X upgrade? Will it be restored?


I initially thought the problem was with the Times website and wrote to them. They responded:



Thank you for contacting NYTimes.com. We appreciate the time you took to write us. In response to your inquiry, the Reader Mode had been removed from Safari with the recent system update. We ask that you please contact Apple. We apologize for the issues this may have caused.





MacBook Air (13-inch Mid 2013), iOS 8.2

Posted on Mar 16, 2015 1:51 PM

Reply
12 replies

Mar 17, 2015 4:54 PM in response to readerview

I have the same problem on both my laptop (10.10.2) and more recently my iPad (8.2). This has gotten worse in the last week.


Reader mode works fine on other web pages, so it must be something particular to NYTimes.com. I also wrote and they suggested that I clear the cache, restart my Mac, etc. None of these work for me.


The interesting thing is that my iPhone (7.1.2) still can view NYTimes in the Reader mode.


Conclusion: a recent change in NY Times web page is incompatible with newer versions of Safari Reader mode.

Mar 17, 2015 7:23 PM in response to newsreader65

I had cataract surgery and got a new artificial lens in my left eye a week ago today. Now I can read small type where I, like you, previously depended on large fonts. Nevertheless, Apple and the NY Times should do right by us seniors and visually impaired and restore the reader mode to Safari for NY Times.


I find that some Times articles do still work in reader mode on my iMac and MacBook Air but that the majority do not. Tech world, help us please.

Mar 12, 2016 10:19 AM in response to readerview

Safari Reader stopped working for me (on ALL sites, not just NYT) after an upgrade to Safari 9.0.3, running over OS X 10.10.5 on a late 2012 MacMini. Pressing the "3-1/2 Line Reader" icon to the left of the URL bar changes the color of the "Reader" icon from white to black, but it does nothing to the page itself; it remains cluttered as before. The words "Show Reader View" and "Hide Reader View" appear, but the page remains unchanged. Ditto for trying to engage it via the View > Show Reader menu. Testing this with all extensions turned off.

Workaround: Install the "Readability" extension. https://www.readability.com/addons

Mar 19, 2016 6:56 AM in response to readerview

I Have been using the reader view for years With the NYT. Love it.


I Think this is the Times, not Apple. My evidence:


1. An older page still has it (see below).

2. The new page that does not have it has moved the "send, email, etc. icons" to a different location (See below).

3 I just went to cnn.com and what do ya know--reader view still available there!


What I suspect: the NYT allows non-subscribers to read 10 free articles per month. After that, wait for the clock to reset. I happen to use the reader mode not just for readability, but because it's fantastic for sending articles to Others via Email--when in reader mode and using the Sarafi "arrow" button in the browser, it puts a clean copy of the whole article in the body of the Apple email client.


Using my technique, one can send unlimited articles to others with impunity. But no longer--now it sends the link and sends them to the site.....



Reader view still available on older page on my iPad in Safari:

User uploaded file




Reader view no longer available as of today and notice NYT "sharing" icons moved and changed, indicating a reformatting/programming of how article pages are delivered:

User uploaded file

Apr 8, 2016 3:47 PM in response to Alan Routh

Bit hard to believe this is an Apple issue. For me, Reader recently stopped working for about 40% of New York Times articles, but not for any articles on other news sites, and I read many. Only stopped working on the NYT site.


A few months earlier the masthead (top panel) on the New York Times home page start acting oddly. It started just sitting there unwanted and functionless, taking up to a fourth of the screen for six or eight seconds before a reader can get rid of it by scrolling it out of the way. It even behaves this way if it is on a tab that a reader has left and then returns to. Then it hangs around hogging space for ANOTHER six or eight seconds.

I have written to NYT support many times about both problems and gotten nowhere. They maintain the first problem is Apple's and for the second a fix is on the way -- a fix that never arrives. I now believe they are both deliberate measures on the part of the NYT to force readers to look at ads.

May 21, 2016 2:35 AM in response to readerview

Seems fairly clear this would have to do with NY Times ad revenue. If you hide the ads on the page, who will ever click on them? I am more than happy to pay for my Times subscription, but they are over-the-top in invasive ads and overly busy page layout. Using reader view has been the only way to concentrate on what matters most to me: their excellent journalism. I'll give the Chrome plug-in a try.

May 22, 2016 7:17 AM in response to readerview

My guess is that this is a way for NY Times to prevent people from tunneling under the paywall. Do a google search an you'll find countless articles about how to use reader mode in safari to avoid having to pay for access to NY Times articles. I think they probably disabled access for this reason.


I suspect many fee for content sites are doing the same.


Luckily the Readability https://www.readability.com extension offers much of the same capability on Safari.


On a related note, Reader mode is also disabled on Safari for THIS PAGE on my computer. What's up with that, Apple?!!!

Safari 'reader' view

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