Page flipping the internet

November 26, 2020 2:36 AM

I have long covid. The neurological effects vary a bit but for the past few weeks I've been experiencing something like vertigo, which means my brain doesn't enjoy all the scrolling involved in internet time. I'm optimistically wondering if there is an app or extension that enables an alternative to this - something like page flipping in the Pocket app, but for the whole of the internet. I have a MacBook and an Android phone, and usually use Chrome on both, but definitely don't need to.
posted by FifteenShocks to Computers & Internet (4 answers total)

Best answer: On the MacBook you can jump a page up and down at a time by using the effin’ fn key. fn-up and fn-down
posted by aubilenon at 3:01 AM on November 26, 2020 [1 favorite]

If you go to chrome://flags/#smooth-scrolling and set it to disabled, then scrolling will be instant rather than smooth which might be less yucky. Especially if you use Aubilenon's fn-down shortcut.
posted by samj at 3:19 AM on November 26, 2020 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: The fn up and down is good (especially timed with a slow blink). Some sites with a banner (including this one) result in the last line of text being swallowed in Chrome, though it seems to work nicely in Safari, which figures.

The flag doesn't seem to be available for a Mac's OS, sadly. I've tried disabling it on my phone, but it hasn't seemed to make a noticeable difference in itself. Thank you though!
posted by FifteenShocks at 11:37 AM on November 26, 2020

Reader mode in Safari and Firefox make it much easier for my post-viral fatigue eyes to read. Spacebar for down, shift-space for up. Available as a plugin for Chrome and Chromium browsers -- search for "Reader view" in the Chrome store.

that's a self link because it's a detailed article, not selling anything
posted by Jesse the K at 1:32 PM on November 26, 2020 [1 favorite]