Desktop Firefox to Get a Reader Mode by the End of the Year

Firefox is getting a "Reader Mode" designed to make it easier to actually read the stuff we find online among all the banners, toolbars, sidebars, ads and everything else. Yes, Firefox for Android already has a Reader Mode, but the desktop browser is getting one as well.

It's going to take a while, 16 weeks at best, so it may land towards the end of the year. While Firefox is developed in the open and plans for major features are laid out in advanced, it's rare for Mozilla to talk about features coming so far into the future.

But this is special because the feature will be built by four students at Michigan State University as their semester-long project. They just got started and the project will continue until December 5.

"Lucas Rocha of the Firefox for Android team is helping mentor the project with me," Mozilla's Jared Wein wrote.

"I’m very excited to have Lucas’ help, as he implemented Reader Mode once already and will bring to the table his valuable experience. Lucas is also very active in the community, helping new contributors get involved with Mozilla," he added.

As for the feature itself, it should be fairly straightforward. There are plenty of add-ons that fulfill this functionality. They repurpose the content of a site, the main "article" whatever that may be, a blog post, a Wikipedia article and so on, and display it in a reader friendly way.

This means the text takes up the entire page, an eye-friendly color scheme is used, in essence, the content becomes king.

Firefox for Android already has a built-in Reader Mode. The feature is especially handy in the mobile space where even sites "optimized" for mobile don't always look great. But it's a great addition to the desktop browser as well.