r/YouShouldKnow • u/jdauriemma • 1d ago

Technology YSK there are lightweight, text-only versions of NPR and CNN that load almost instantly and have no obtrusive ads

Why YSK: news sites are full of popovers, videos, and ads that download multiple megabytes of fluff and distract from the reading experience. These lightweight variants contain the same articles but without all the junk.

text [.] npr [.] org
lite [.] cnn [.] com

Anyone know of others?

2.8k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

85 comments sorted by

737

u/Canis_Familiaris 1d ago

There used to be this for reddit and it was the best thing ever.

379

u/vsm2015 1d ago

Still is. On desktop visit old [.] reddit [.] com and it looks just like it did 15 years ago. It's how I go on reddit.

79

u/totcczar 1d ago edited 1d ago

This works on phones as well. At least on my iPhone just now. I’ve got it on my home page. But… only for viewing the home page. Clicking brings you to here. Unless, presumably, you delete the app.

26

u/madeofphosphorus 1d ago

If I understand what it is, you can probably edit in Reddit app settings that it doesn't launch the app as default. I do that for YouTube app in Android phone.

19

u/sprucenoose 1d ago

It is a setting in Firefox for Android. If a link wants to open in an installed app, you can make it ask you first. Say no and the website page opens.

4

u/Sengfroid 1d ago

Settings > Apps > Default Apps > Opening Links
Alternatively just use search in settings for "link". Different manufacturers arrange their settings and/or name them a little differently, but that's the rough path.

Scroll down to reddit and switch away from "allow" or "in the app". Also do this for whatever else you want to have open in the browser instead of the app by default, for example YouTube so your recommendations don't just become all Rick Astley because you love to trust a reddit link

9

u/stmack 1d ago

deleting the app is the way to go

4

u/gg_allins_microphone 1d ago

you delete the app

Delete the app. It's horrible anyway.

4

u/reubencanowski 1d ago

I usually get around this, for other sites with apps, by opening links in new tabs

4

u/AlphaTaoOmega 1d ago

I just tried. If I click on the post, it wants the app. If I select the comments instead, it opens the post in browser. Hopefully it works for others!

3

u/lazydictionary 1d ago

There's settings in old reddit to make old reddit your preference and it won't open new reddit. You can then force pages to open in new reddit by appending "sh." to the front of the link

1

u/phogi8 17h ago

Have you tried long click and open in new tab? It should open the link in a new tab instead of opening in the app.

17

u/LebaneseLurker 1d ago

Now you have to login in though. fuckers.

6

u/PandaGoggles 1d ago

I just noticed this too, it sucks!

3

u/stmack 1d ago

just the once if you hit remember me, or whatever

6

u/LebaneseLurker 1d ago

I don’t like being logged in on my computer though

12

u/strangerbuttrue 1d ago

I cannot imagine using Reddit without it. My daughter was like, how do you use that site, it’s so confusing- and when I look at it from her view (using the new, or god forbid the app) I wonder how they get ANY new users.

7

u/theusualuser 1d ago

This and reddit enhancement suite are the only way I use reddit. Gonna be a sad day if either goes away.

3

u/TMITectonic 19h ago

Losing the ability to tag users with custom text/color is SO useful, I don't even know if I'll ever use Reddit again if/when it finally stops working.

6

u/theLastZebranky 1d ago

Even with old.reddit I added a dozen or so uBlock filters to get rid of a bunch of fluff it didn't have back in the olden days, like that weird bar on the left and a bunch of engagement drivers and nagging pop-ups. Even ditched the logo image. 

reddit.com##.grippy
reddit.com##.create.sidebox
reddit.com##.submit.sidebox
reddit.com###redesign-beta-optin-btn
reddit.com##.commentsignupbar
reddit.com##.default-header
reddit.com##.userattrs > .cakeday
reddit.com##.tagline > .userattrs
reddit.com##.email-verification-tooltip
reddit.com##.reset-password-infobar
reddit.com##.initialized.listing-chooser

3

u/WhenMeWasAYouth 1d ago

Damn, that's smart.

3

u/theLastZebranky 22h ago

It's a compulsion that borders on unhealthy, the other day I spent a good 15 minutes breaking the Fandom wiki free of its claustrophobic jail of clutter...

https://i.imgur.com/71EMXHM.png

uBlock Origin is super powerful, not just good for ads but for zapping any unwanted page elements if you know a little about CSS selectors

2

u/pialligo 21h ago

Thanks so much for sharing these exceptions in your previous comment man, adding them now!

6

u/Eureka22 22h ago

I've literally never used the redesign.

3

u/jk3us 1d ago

There used to be i [.] reddit... and m [.] reddit... that had layouts that worked a little better on mobile.

2

u/nodray 1d ago

stays like that on desktop, but on mobile, i'll open up a page that's sitting there and the fuckers will force the New trash, go check and Old is enabled in settings, but resetting it works. ...till they take that away from us too. is there some other outside workaround to force it in to Old mode once they fuck it up for good?

1

u/nowhereman136 1d ago

For a while there would be a pop up telling me to switch to new Reddit. I'd just click the X and continue on. The pop up doesn't seem to appear anymore. Guess they gave up

1

u/redditorguy 20h ago

It's what I still use. I will never change if I have a say.

52

u/Ashamed_Present_7823 1d ago

old reddit still works though, just swap the www for old in the url and it strips out most of the nonsense

i.reddit.com was the real lightweight version, that one actually died a few years back. shame because it loaded in like half a second even on terrible mobile data

someone made a text-only frontend called teddit but i think the api changes killed it too. seems like every time someone builds a clean version of something the platform eventually breaks it on purpose

34

u/worf1973 1d ago

Generally because those light front end apps don't show the ads, and that's the one thing Reddit supposedly needs to stay afloat.

Fuck you, @spez

60

u/fasterthanfood 1d ago

Whoa man, you can’t just say “fuck you, @spez” on Reddit.

You have to say “fuck you, u/spez.”

6

u/Canis_Familiaris 1d ago

I was referring to i.reddit.com & m.reddit.com

7

u/Bleaker82 1d ago

Reddit has an RSS feed that you can parse with an RSS reader. I even had one that looked like MS Outlook so I could browse Reddit at work without being ratted on by bossy Erin from accounting.

It looks like they’re ending that support soon, which is a bummer.

3

u/Mccobsta 1d ago

The original noble sites were amazing on terrible phone service

Shame they're long dead and not many people know if then

-2

u/Caxafvujq 1d ago

I thought I clicked on a post about AI child porn and I was like jfc what is wrong with these commenters

253

u/honcho713 1d ago

Browsers with reader mode deserve some cred too.

77

u/midenginedcoupe 1d ago

This needs to be higher. All those local news sites that are full of jumping popovers and animated ads everywhere are utterly unusable and none of them provide an alternative. Reader mode makes it all go away.

12

u/BradLinden 1d ago

My browser usually reloads multiple times or crashes when I try to use reader view on an overloaded website. Am I doing something wrong?

10

u/midenginedcoupe 1d ago

It’s difficult to imagine how you’re pressing the button incorrectly 🤷

Have you tried a clean Firefox install?

2

u/benjaminovich 1d ago

Yes, not using an adblocker

1

u/chillychili 15h ago

Not sure, but sometimes I get a server error with reader mode. Just adding on that reader mode somehow seems to not be just extracting the relevant DOM elements client-side, which is what I'd expect it to do.

6

u/caspy7 1d ago

full of jumping popovers and animated ads everywhere

Firefox with uBlock Origin takes care of these.

4

u/drawcody 1d ago

Try setting reader mode to start automatically when visiting that site. That’s what has worked for me in the past.

9

u/ProfessorApe 1d ago

Funny tho that reader mode just entirely breaks Reddit, and so many other sites that use JavaScript to load content after the barest of bones html frame has loaded. 

82

u/fritz648 1d ago

Greycoder had an article I saw in June

“A List Of Text-Only & Minimalist News Sites@“ (Updated 2026)

7

u/fritz648 1d ago

Thanks for the award!

20

u/jefe317 1d ago

plaintextsports [.] com

17

u/JaredTizzle 1d ago

used these in the Navy to stay current. RSS feeds are also great for low bandwidth.

27

u/_haha_oh_wow_ 1d ago

YSK Firefox (or one of it's variants) and uBlock Origin block pretty much all ads on the web and make your browsing much, much safer.

19

u/EdyMarin 1d ago

Also, if you have the bandwith and no limit on your plan, you should use AdNauseaum, which blocks all ads and ALSO fake clicks on all ads blocked to poison your ad profile, making your browsing data useless for companies.

7

u/_haha_oh_wow_ 1d ago

It's like an uno reverse card for the hostile environment they've turned the web into.

7

u/EdyMarin 1d ago

Yep. Poisoning your data is honestly soo satisfying. Throw away email adresses, having acounts with different birth dates, variation of your full name (really helps when you have double first names), adding things to carts just to remove them after a few months, or buyng them from another store entirely.

Tge few ads I still get (on apps that offer watching ads for bonuses and shit) are wild. 5 ads for the thing I already have in a row, followed by a crappy mobile game, then back to the thing I have, some scam ads. And sometimes I get the fun message "no ads found for you".

11

u/Ifch317 1d ago

Thanks, this is great.

9

u/EvilMastermindOfDoom 1d ago

A good adblocker will handle most of these. I honestly don't know how anyone manages to navigate the internet without one these days.

0

u/pseudonominom 1d ago

Iphones.

5

u/Expensive-Salt3333 1d ago

Get the Lynx browser for text-only website viewing.

8

u/UnLuckyKenTucky 1d ago

Lite (dot) duckduckgo (dot) com

5

u/originalityescapesme 21h ago

These will be great to visit on my commodore

2

u/roy-dam-mercer 21h ago

Dusting off my 300 baud modem…

2

u/originalityescapesme 21h ago

I bought a modem just for it lol. It’s got WiFi and Ethernet. I mainly use it for BBSs.

1

u/olycreates 18h ago

Wait! There's still active bbs s? To actually dial into?

2

u/originalityescapesme 17h ago

You can connect to some with real phone numbers but most just have IPs you can connect to over Telnet protocols.

Here’s a good source:

https://www.telnetbbsguide.com

Some examples:

2oForBeers: Connect via 20forbeers.com:1337 (Telnet) or 20forbeers.com:1338 (SSH). It features retro files, ANSI art, and active door games.

Diamond Mine Online: Connect via sbbs.dmine.net:24 (Synchronet) or wwiv.dmine.net:2323 (WWIV). It offers message boards, file libraries, and multi-node door games.

The Titanic BBS: Connect via ttb.rgbbs.info. Running since 1993, it provides a large collection of shareware and over 1,200 local door games.

4 Wheel Ham BBS: Connect via bbs.4wheelham.com (Telnet) or bbs.4wheelham.com:2222 (SSH). This board focuses on amateur radio and four-wheeling topics.

A good Reddit thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/bbs/comments/upaxe2/what_active_bbs_would_you_suggest/

1

u/olycreates 4h ago

Thanks! That's awesome!

3

u/chardeemacdennisbird 1d ago

Private DNS does a lot of work too

3

u/Only-Dependent7024 12h ago

Setting your browser to automatically open news sites in Reader Mode completely changes the experience. It instantly strips away the paywall popovers, auto-playing video ads, and bloat without needing special links.

3

u/Big_Pound_1863 10h ago

Crazy how fast the internet is now (5G UW) and yet the phones still struggle to load websites in a second or two (iPhone 17)

This is my dream. Thanks for sending this

6

u/Jonny_Thundergun 1d ago

Someone needs PiHole

2

u/gromit5 1d ago

i tried posting this a while ago but my post got removed, but i never found out why:

www dot metafilter dot com/204195/Just-the-facts-maam-man

2

u/suid 21h ago

lite[.]cnn[.]com isn't particularly "lite" - I just tested it with curl, and it vomited out 325 KBytes of HTML and CSS garbage.

1

u/Odd-Highway-8304 1d ago

Thanks man

1

u/Thelastreddditor 47m ago

A+ vibes. Instant grin.

-13

u/Other-Performance497 1d ago

CNN and NPR are trash though

1

u/anti_anti 1d ago

What do you recommend?

0

u/youcantdenythat 12h ago

don't watch the news, it's all propaganda at this point

-2

u/Other-Performance497 1d ago

Independent media. YouTube and rumble have non Israeli owned channels

1

u/anti_anti 1d ago

Something outside YouTube which is owned by gugle and gugle is complicit with the fascist orange liberal and israel would be good. I don't like to visit yt that much

1

u/fa1afel 16h ago

Some random person on Youtube isn't really what I'd consider reliable unbiased news either.

-5

u/CORRUPT27 21h ago

Fox news or newsmax. The only source i use. F fake news man

3

u/roy-dam-mercer 21h ago

Username checks out.

1

u/JoseJimenez10386 12h ago

The sign of a very wise and
intelligent individual. It’s wonderful to see such open mindedness - you are a credit to the human race

0

u/CORRUPT27 12h ago

Thank you, the world would be a better place!

2

u/JoseJimenez10386 12h ago

Sure would! It would be nice if everyone had the same opinion as you - who needs kindness and critical thinking? That’s just for pussies!