The browser extension
Good writing rarely turns up while you are already in a reading app. The extension puts saving and subscribing on every page you visit.
What it does
You come across something worth reading in the middle of doing something else. Without the extension that means copying a link and finding somewhere to put it. With it, saving is one click, wherever you are.
- Save any article to your queue without leaving the page.
- Subscribe to the publication it came from, in the same click.
- See which of the people you pass on Bluesky write long-form.
Everything lands in the same account, so a piece you save from your laptop at work is in Saved on your phone that evening.
Installing it
- Open the extension and sign in. It sends you here to approve, once.
- Carry on browsing. It appears where it is useful and stays out of the way where it is not.
On any page you visit
On an article, a small overlay offers to save it or subscribe to its publication. If Standard Reader already knows the piece, it is matched to the indexed version, so it arrives with its author and publication attached rather than as a bare link.
If the site publishes in the open format but has not been indexed yet, the extension reads the page's own record hints and subscribes anyway.
It also covers the pieces Standard Reader cannot show you itself. Some documents are in a format the reader cannot render, or live behind a site that will not hand over its contents — those open on the original site rather than here. The extension follows you there, so on that page you still get everything the network knows about the article: the Bluesky conversation about it, who recommended it, how many people saved it, and the same subscribe and save buttons. The reading happens on their site; the context comes with you.
On Bluesky
On bsky.app, quiet badges mark the accounts whose long-form writing you can read here. It is the least effortful way to find publications worth subscribing to: the people are already in front of you.
What it can see
The extension checks the address of the page you are on to work out whether there is anything to offer, and it acts on your account only when you click something. It does not read your browsing history or the contents of pages.
The full account is on the extension privacy page.