A way to create one URL out of webpage+readability javascript function

[GoogleCodeExporter]

I'd like to give friends an URL which already uses Readability so they
don't have to create a Readability bookmark for it and call the function
manually.

Original issue reported on code.google.com by zerbe...@gmail.com on 5 Mar 2009 at 11:31

[GoogleCodeExporter]

A "composed" URL would be very helpful. It would allow me to generate URLs from 
my
PHP that link to "readable" versions of external web pages.

Original comment by humptyb...@gmail.com on 14 Mar 2009 at 2:32

[GoogleCodeExporter]

This is more of a moral question than a technical one. Building a site that
-automatically- strips advertising is a moral gray area, not to mention a legal 
one.

I doubt we at arc90 will do this anytime soon as a result. It's still always a
possibility (if we do some soul-searching/precedent-finding and change our 
minds),
but you're more than free to check the codebase out and build it yourself. 
Wouldn't
be too hard!

(Leaving as New in case any other Arcer's want to disagree with me.)

Original comment by umb...@gmail.com on 14 Mar 2009 at 8:04

[GoogleCodeExporter]

The "moral" issue is definitely significant. My use case could easily be used to
subvert a web site owners intent. In my case, I wanted to strip away the 
sidebar and
title but as you point out, I would have no way of knowing if ads or 
disclaimers were
added at some point after I made the link.

Original comment by humptyb...@gmail.com on 15 Mar 2009 at 1:37

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Thanks for commenting on this. A workaround to show friends a nice text could 
be an
option to save the page as PDF. Or perhaps in the far future webmasters will 
add a
little button to the list of "Save as ..." (like del.icio.us, Oneview, yigg, 
etc.)
buttons which can already be found on many blog and news sites.

Original comment by zerbe...@gmail.com on 15 Mar 2009 at 2:19

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Should i open a new issue for the feature request to have the possibility of 
creating 
PDF or local HTML pages that i can give friends?

Or is it already possible somehow?

Original comment by zerbe...@gmail.com on 21 Jan 2010 at 9:15

[GoogleCodeExporter]

There is no moral question, HTML is open and adblock has been around for how 
many
years now?

Advertisements usually disturb readability and this tool exists to enhance
readability. 1 + 1 = link-readability. :)

The problem is rather a technical one: how to not let webhosts and ad-companies 
not
notice the impact of this tool. And I think the answer is: load the website, 
but only
draw the interesting stuff.

Original comment by qubodup on 15 May 2010 at 11:45

[GoogleCodeExporter]

I'd like this too.

One can use the google mobilizer with such pattern: 
http://www.google.com/gwt/x?u=<URL>
Sadly, it is not as clean as what readability provide.

Original comment by julien.c...@gmail.com on 27 Jul 2010 at 3:38

[GoogleCodeExporter]

If the script runs on the client site, there is no moral issue as tools like 
AdBlocker do the same. The client is controlling the experience.

If the same is provided as a service without any client intervention then there 
could certainly be legal issues. You would be passing links around of a 
masqueraded version of the content without them requiring any sort of plugin to 
opt-in to the "readable". Not only that, but your version would even have the 
Readability logo underneath.

The only thing readability can do in the matter is to add ?readability or 
something to the URI and the client could detect it at the end and 
automatically make the page readable. This way you could pass the URL and if 
the person has readability installed, they will get the cleaned version. 
Publishers in turn will be able to track this on their end which might help 
send them a message about readability and it would also result in free 
advertising for Readability if they leave their signature in the URL query 
string.

Original comment by ale...@gmail.com on 15 Aug 2010 at 10:31

[GoogleCodeExporter]

hopefully this doesn't sound like self-promotion.. but what I do is

1. apply readability bookmarklet first, then
2. apply http://sharedcopy.com/ bookmarklet, and
3. share the sharedcopied page

cheers

Original comment by choonk...@gmail.com on 14 Dec 2010 at 8:28

[GoogleCodeExporter]

We have something coming down the pipeline that may satisfy those of you who 
were looking for this. Stay tuned!

Original comment by umb...@gmail.com on 14 Dec 2010 at 3:52

[GoogleCodeExporter]

I think this issue can be marked as fixed with the new Readability which has 
launched today: Using the "Share" feature one gets a short url that exactly 
does what we asked for.

Thank you very much, arc90 lab people.

Original comment by zerbe...@gmail.com on 1 Feb 2011 at 7:35

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Original comment by umb...@gmail.com on 13 Feb 2011 at 2:13

• Changed state: Fixed