No, Safari Reader Is Not the Beginning of an ‘Arms Race’

Jim Lynch:

Apple, by adding Reader to Safari 5, is essentially trying to force an ebook style interface onto the web reading experience. It will never work out over the long haul because web publishers will resist and the end result will be an arms race, with publishers on one side and Apple on the other.

This guy Lynch’s website is exactly the sort of design turd that makes people want to use Safari Reader. Flash ads, half a dozen Google text ads, 10 “social media” dinguses, a side bar full of polls, sub-tabs, “related posts”, and more. And, to top it off, it’s split across three “pages”, with a measly 400 words per page.

Safari Reader doesn’t kick in by default. It’s invoked by the user. Apple isn’t telling Jim Lynch his site is ugly and hard to read. His readers are. If your website is user-hostile, don’t be surprised when your readers fight back.

Update: Shockingly — shockingly, I tell you — Lynch’s site uses Tynt.

★ Monday, 14 June 2010