1481847 - Support openInReaderMode in tabs.update

Status: NEW

(WebExtensions :: General, enhancement, P5)

Description

[Ian Bicking (:ianbicking)]

The browser.tabs.create API supports the openInReaderMode parameter. It seems sensible that browser.tabs.update support the same parameter.

Unlike updating a URL then calling toggleReaderMode, openInReaderMode puts the user directly into reader mode without flashing the original content in the tab.

Comment 1

[Shane Caraveo (:mixedpuppy)]

toggleReaderMode does exactly what the browser does when you toggle reader mode on a page, so I really don't understand what you're trying to do.  If you just want update because the flashing, move this bug to firefox.

I get a flash when toggling via the toolbar on a NYT article, so I'm inclined towards this being a reader mode bug.

Comment 2

[Ian Bicking (:ianbicking)]

I want to simultaneously navigate an existing tab (using tabs.update), while also navigating it to a reader mode

Comment 3

[Ian Bicking (:ianbicking)]

I should probably give a bit of context about what I'm trying to accomplish: I would like to intercept some navigations and turn them directly into a Reader Mode view. I've tried a couple approaches:

browser.webRequest.onBeforeRequest.addListener((event) => {
  if (shouldRedirectToReaderMode(event.url)) {
    // Approach 1; doesn't work because I am not allowed to redirect to an about: URL:
    let redirectUrl = `about:reader?url=${encodeURIComponent(url)}`;
    return {redirectUrl};
    // Approach 2; doesn't work either because there's no openInReaderMode:
    setTimeout(() => {
      browser.tabs.update(event.tabId, {url: event.url, openInReaderMode: true});
    });
    return {cancel: true};
  }
  return {};
}, {urls: ["http://*/*", "https://*/*"], types: ["main_frame"]}, ["blocking"]);

Comment 4

[Cristian Craciun]

Set component.

Comment 5

[Ian Bicking (:ianbicking)]

For anyone interested, here is a WebExtension experiment API to accomplish this: https://github.com/ianb/sticky-reader-mode/blob/15d821e6e262fa48a6f65b87c5ba12720a79e302/addon/experiment/api.js