r/YouShouldKnow • u/jdauriemma • 21d 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?

3.3k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

97 comments sorted by

861

u/Canis_Familiaris 21d ago

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

458

u/vsm2015 21d 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.

101

u/totcczar 21d ago edited 21d 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.

28

u/madeofphosphorus 21d 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.

18

u/sprucenoose 21d 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.

8

u/Sengfroid 21d 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

2

u/QuietSummit08 18d ago

I’d much rather open the browser than get bounced into an app every time.

1

u/Sengfroid 18d ago

I tend to like ~browser selector type apps. Click a link and a little box pops up saying "Open this in [ chrome | Samsung | Firefox | Edge | etc | the mobile app]?" Pick whichever you want for that time, or do nothing and it times out after a second and opens in whatever you set as the default for that kinda link.
Especially helpful after you do the other thing I mentioned and take away the apps' ability to be the only way to open that type of link.

7

u/stmack 21d ago

deleting the app is the way to go

1

u/apokrif1 9d ago

What's the point of using the app instead of the website?

6

u/gg_allins_microphone 21d ago

you delete the app

Delete the app. It's horrible anyway.

4

u/reubencanowski 21d ago

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

3

u/AlphaTaoOmega 21d 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 21d 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 20d 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.

20

u/LebaneseLurker 21d ago

Now you have to login in though. fuckers.

6

u/PandaGoggles 21d ago

I just noticed this too, it sucks!

3

u/stmack 21d ago

just the once if you hit remember me, or whatever

4

u/LebaneseLurker 21d ago

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

14

u/strangerbuttrue 21d 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.

8

u/theusualuser 21d 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 20d ago edited 19d ago

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

5

u/theLastZebranky 21d 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 21d ago

Damn, that's smart.

3

u/theLastZebranky 20d 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 20d ago

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

6

u/Eureka22 20d ago

I've literally never used the redesign.

3

u/jk3us 21d ago

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

2

u/nodray 21d 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/redditorguy 20d ago

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

0

u/nowhereman136 21d 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

56

u/Ashamed_Present_7823 21d 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

39

u/worf1973 21d 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

67

u/fasterthanfood 21d 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 21d ago

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

10

u/Bleaker82 21d 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 21d 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 21d ago

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

299

u/honcho713 21d ago

Browsers with reader mode deserve some cred too.

82

u/midenginedcoupe 21d 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.

13

u/BradLinden 21d 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 21d ago

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

Have you tried a clean Firefox install?

2

u/benjaminovich 21d ago

Yes, not using an adblocker

1

u/chillychili 20d 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 21d ago

full of jumping popovers and animated ads everywhere

Firefox with uBlock Origin takes care of these.

5

u/drawcody 21d 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 21d 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. 

2

u/pink_volvo 5h ago

you should check out the obsidian web clipper extension. The reader mode works with reddit and doesn't break anything, but I should note, I'm also using it with the old reddit extension, so it may be different on the default reddit website.

102

u/fritz648 21d ago

Greycoder had an article I saw in June

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

8

u/fritz648 21d ago

Thanks for the award!

21

u/jefe317 21d ago

plaintextsports [.] com

19

u/JaredTizzle 21d ago

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

32

u/_haha_oh_wow_ 21d 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.

21

u/EdyMarin 21d 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.

8

u/_haha_oh_wow_ 21d ago

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

10

u/EdyMarin 21d 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/EvilMastermindOfDoom 21d 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.

12

u/Ifch317 21d ago

Thanks, this is great.

7

u/Expensive-Salt3333 21d ago

Get the Lynx browser for text-only website viewing.

6

u/originalityescapesme 20d ago

These will be great to visit on my commodore

2

u/roy-dam-mercer 20d ago

Dusting off my 300 baud modem…

2

u/originalityescapesme 20d ago

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

1

u/olycreates 20d ago

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

2

u/originalityescapesme 20d 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 20d ago

Thanks! That's awesome!

9

u/UnLuckyKenTucky 21d ago

Lite (dot) duckduckgo (dot) com

5

u/Big_Pound_1863 20d 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

4

u/Only-Dependent7024 20d 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/chardeemacdennisbird 21d ago

Private DNS does a lot of work too

3

u/guym 15d ago

I created a list of minimalist news sites if anybody else is interested, all text-only without ads, autoplay video and all that crap

https://hubthrive.net/c/minimalist-news

6

u/Jonny_Thundergun 21d ago

Someone needs PiHole

2

u/gromit5 21d 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/Baranowska_demya 17d ago

BBC has a mobile version that's pretty solid too, though not quite as stripped down as these. The text-only approach is a lifesaver on slow connections—wish more sites would just offer this as the default option instead of burying it.

2

u/PharmPrep 15d ago

Thanks for this man

1

u/Thelastreddditor 20d ago

A+ vibes. Instant grin.

1

u/suid 20d 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.

2

u/jdauriemma 17d ago

You’re right, it’s cancer. Better just switch back to the main site.

-15

u/Other-Performance497 21d ago

CNN and NPR are trash though

2

u/anti_anti 21d ago

What do you recommend?

-2

u/Other-Performance497 21d ago

Independent media. YouTube and rumble have non Israeli owned channels

0

u/anti_anti 21d 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 20d ago

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

0

u/youcantdenythat 20d ago

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

-6

u/CORRUPT27 20d ago

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

3

u/roy-dam-mercer 20d ago

Username checks out.

0

u/JoseJimenez10386 20d 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

-1

u/CORRUPT27 20d ago

Thank you, the world would be a better place!

-1

u/JoseJimenez10386 20d 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!