A year or so ago my buddy Cinnamon pointed me to a little browser add-on called Readability by Arc90. This simple bookmarklet could take the text of an article you were reading and present it in a clear, configurable, easy-to-read style without any distractions like ads, sidebars, menus or comments.
This was a great way to read on the web, especially longer-form pieces on noisy or hard-to-read websites, since it could also intelligently string together the parts of a multi-page article. It was a huge hit; the code behind it was soon after integrated into Apple's Safari browser and the iPad Flipboard app.
A week ago, Readability relaunched as an ambitious and well-thought-out subscription service. They've partnered with Marco Ament's excellent Instapaper service and web/iOS app to basically do what Instapaper did before, but with a cunning twist.
Like Instapaper, the new Readability will let you save articles or stories you come across on the web to your Readability account and access that from any web browser or, in the next days/weeks, your iPhone or iPad. Undoubtedly more clients are on the way for other mobile devices.
Where it differs from the donation-supported (and totally worth it) Instapaper is the subscription model. A voluntary monthly contribution with a $5 minimum, paid via Amazon.com, of which 30% goes to Readability to maintain and upgrade their service. So what happens to the other 70%?
It goes to the websites you read and save with Readability. Those sites receive a portion of your monthly fee.
That's pretty clever! Simply by browsing, reading and saving articles and stories you like -- completely self-serving behavior -- you're also passively indicating which websites you want to support with a few pennies here and there. And it keeps the publishers and writers of those sites happy because they're making a tiny sliver of cash from your reading, probably more than they would have earned if they'd accosted you with the damn fool advertisements on their crummy website.
Over at SoFurry.com we're already looking at how we can integrate Readability into the site's fancy new 2.0 release. Money isn't a priority, and we likely won't be accepting any payment from Readability at first for a variety of reasons.
Obviously, I'm a champion for writers and readers within the development and the simple integration of Readability buttons on the website will make it much easier for people to read and save stories in a format they find comfortable. I have high hopes for the reading experience.
If you want to see what the fuss is about, drag the free bookmarklet to your favorites bar and give it a spin!
- Alex F. Vance
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