Safari 5 now contains a “reader” mode that converts busy web pages into boring black text on a white background. If you are a heavy user of this mode, you might want to hack this display into something more unique to you.
So you like Safari’s new reader mode, but you want to tweak it a bit? It’s really easy to change.
Disclaimer: You can really break safari if you don’t know what you are doing. If you do bork the application, you should be able to delete it and reinstall.
Here’s how to customize the reader in OS X:
1. Find your Safari.app in your Applications.
2. Right-click (control-click) on it and select Show Package Contents
3. Open Reader.html in your favorite html/css editing application.
4. Consider making a backup of the file before editing in case you break things.
5. Edit the css and html to your hearts content. You may need to input your password to save.
6. To test you’ll have to open new web pages in the reader each time.
Here are some nonsensical changes for your pleasure…
Before:
After:
Obviously my changes are silly, but there are legitimate uses for this. For example…
– Changing the window size for bigger/smaller screens
– Changing colors for better reading in certain light situations
– Changing font styles
