Ways to make posts without links or distraction free

If you read my previous post about the distractions while reading online, I’m here again with a few solutions for readers suffering from cognitive load. These techniques are collections from various posts and comments, which I came across while researching the topic aptly called delinkification of the web err… articles.

Use ‘Readability’ tool to remove links – I came across this handy tool that you can install in your web browser’s bookmark toolbar. So when you are on a web site, simply click on the link on the bookmark toolbar and the web site transforms into a link free, design free printable text. But I found this tool a bit obtrusive since it removes the entire styling from the site and refreshes the page. Additionally, the tool requires a certain skill to set-up in your web browser. And then it can not be used in mobile devices at all.

Reading on the web is full of distractions

Let me start by asking you a question, do you prefer paper books or ebooks when you want to read a new book from your favorite author or favorite subject? For the ones who love the smell of paper, the answer is obvious. Now let me ask ebook lovers (like me) another question – do you love reading ebooks on Kindle or iPad? This is another divide where most may like to mention Kindle or a similar ebook reader probably because it so resembles the black & white paper with an additional advantage of listening music to please your ears and an ever expanding ebook library stored in pocketable Kindle. The one who like to read on iPad or any other tablet, I have another question – how often do you skip the ebook and open your web browser to update twitter status or add a few more facebook friends or follow stories/news on increasing number of favorite sites?

Before you get fed-up of my questions, let’s go back and see as we were embracing new means of reading books, the distraction level was increasing sharply. Kindle has choice of music and ability to allow you a quick glance at the newly bought ebooks. And iPad brought the entire ‘social’ web where we could just go online anytime spend as much time on anything but the book you were just reading.