Will Firefox's New Reader View Further Diminish Revenues

[webcentric]

Firefox 38.0.5 has added a feature called Reader View which essentially strips a page of adds and anything it doesn't consider readable content. I haven't really gotten into what it's hiding but the effect is pretty extreme. I also don't see that the feature is available for every web page so I haven't even been able to ascertain if the view persists from page to page. (after further review, it looks to be a current-page-only setting as opposed to a browsing mode).

I'm curious to see how damaging this could be to publishers and what sort of features need to be on a page before this option shows itself. Anyone else seen this yet?

[not2easy]

You can see how it works here: [mxr.mozilla.org...] and it looks (at first scan) like it would avoid complex sorting of text/elements at least. I have not read enough yet to point to a definite answer. I see questions about disabling it in the Moz community with negative comments. Their solutions only affect your own browser though.

[MrSavage]

Sounds like a possible another nail. I lost count of the nails at this point though. I'm going all-in and trying to get as much cash as possible, but meanwhile being realistic about this business model.

[tangor]

First comments here: [webmasterworld.com...]

While some might find this "feature" a threat to income, it might also tone down the sometimes absurd ad layouts found on some sites.

In practice (I've been playing with Reader View since the update yesterday), sites with more than two columns almost guarantee a Reader View button. Those with more than three ads ON PAGE tend to do the same. Those with many iframe inserts seem to invoke the RV mode while sites wit true FRAMSET FRAMES are unaffected. Unlike NoScript and Adblock, Reader View is more extreme in that it reformats the page to a single column and allows font/background over rides wtih the click of the mouse.

So far, in use, RV seems to get it "right" about 95% of the time.... and as a READER I do like the ability to get rid of the noise to find the information... so, that's why my first comment above that RV just might urge some webmasters to create cleaner, more readable pages from the get go so that RV is never invoked.

[netmeg]

Safari has a Reader View too though, doesn't it?

Firefox is #6 on my stats for browser usage, and I suspect the people using Reader View wouldn't be likely to click on the ads anyway, plus most of my traffic is mobile, so at this point, it's not really on my radar.

[lucy24]

In spite of the name, it sounds kinda like a browser-side version of "Printer Friendly".

[netmeg]

Yea, kinda. And like Printer Friendly, the style sheet can make it look fine or look horrible.