20110124

Tip: Sending Webpages to the Kindle

I have been playing around with the Amazon Kindle I received for Christmas.  One of the main uses I have had for it is to read webpages, especially long articles.

My Preferred Options


Send to Kindle extension: I recently came across the "Send to Kindle" extension on Google Chrome.  When I come across a webpage, I can click to save it for later on my Kindle.  The extension then sends the file to my Kindle automatically and formats it nicely, and it takes literally a second or two to do.


Later on Kindle: I installed an app on my phone which sends webpages to my Kindle.  It works.


Other Options in Review

Using the web browser function: The Kindle has a web browser on it.  It displays the page in black and white.  It also doesn't have a touch screen or a track pad to easily navigate through a webpage, so that part is inconvenient.  I avoid using the browser on the Kindle.  What I am more interested is using the browser on my computer--or even on my smartphone--and then saving longer articles for later on my Kindle in a clean, readable format.

Saving text to a document file: I have experimented with copying an article I want to read onto a word processing application, putting in any formating that I desire, and then sending it to my Kindle.  This has gotten rid of the random nonsense that a html file has.  The downsides are (1) it's much slower than saving a webpage and sending it as-is and (2) I have had trouble formatting the document files so that they look good on the Kindle.  I typically have to use the program Calibre, which makes things take even more time.  This is a good option, however, in those cases where I care exactly how a document looks (for example, things I want to save).

Instapaper: I experimented with Instapaper.com for a while.  It works like this: whenever I wanted to save a webpage for later, I just clicked on a button on my web browser, and it was saved in my account.  Every day, it then automatically sends me all of the articles on my list in one file.  The articles are formatted nicely.  If I want my articles before the automatic scheduled download, I can go to the Instapaper website and click to have my file sent.  This is a pretty good option, but I prefer (1) having my articles sent instantly instead of having to wait for them and (2) having my articles in separate files and not clumping them into one.

No comments:

Post a Comment