There are many reasons you may want to reduce your bandwidth usage when surfing the 'net, like slow internet, a spotty connection, or data limits.
That’s where text-only news sites come in. They allow you to take in the day’s events, whether you’re on the subway or stuck in an emergency, with less loading times and less data consumed.
Here’s a list of all the best text-only news sites we could find, including both traditional and tech news outlets, as well as some tips on how to convert other sites to text-only formats too.
[+] 'Complete List Of Text-Only News Sites' contents (select to expand)
Text-only political news sites:
These sites deal with more “traditional” news, whether it’s changes in the national economy or the latest international event.
- http://68k.news – very lightweight version of Google News
- https://lite.cnn.io/en – CNN’s text-only site
- https://text.npr.org – Text-based version of NPR’s site
- https://www.cbc.ca/lite – Canada Broadcast Corporation’s (CBC) lite version
- https://www.csmonitor.com/layout/set/text/textedition – Text-only international news from Christian Science Monitor
- https://rc-lite.xyz – French Canadian news only text
- https://lite.poandpo.com/ – UK’s Post Online news in text only
- https://kidl.at – Text-only news sourced from Creative Commons
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Current_events – Shortcut to Wikipedia’s current events page
- https://legiblenews.com – Easier to read version of Wikipedia news
Text-only technology news sites:
These sites offer tech-focused news for all you tech lovers out there.
- https://readspike.com – Aggregator from a variety of tech news sites
- https://skimfeed.com – A similarly expansive tech news aggregator
- https://hackerweb.app – Text-only techie news
- https://news.ycombinator.com – Text-only version of Hacker News
- https://alterslash.org – Unofficial, text-only version of Slashdot
- https://lobste.rs – More tech news in text only
Text-based news sites with minimal images:
These sites feature a few, smaller images, while still greatly reducing bandwidth and data usage.
- https://teddit.net – Lower bandwidth version of Reddit
- https://guardian.gyford.com – The Guardian’s minimalist site is mostly text-only, with a few small images
- https://www.nytimes.com/timeswire – A news wire of NYT’s latest stories with thumbnails, but clicking on a headline brings you to the normal article
- https://upstract.com – This site pulls news from a large number of outlets, but it does have some images
How to Use Your Browser’s Reader Mode
If your favorite news site doesn’t have a text-only version – or you just want to reduce your load times and bandwidth usages on other sites – there’s another option. And that’s “reader mode”, a web browser feature.
1. How to turn on Reader or “Speedreader” Mode in Brave
The Brave browser has two built-in reader options. The normal reader mode can be activated from a compatible web page by hitting the ‘Turn on reader mode’ on the right side of the URL bar, like so:
But you can also turn on “Speedreader” mode by navigating to Settings > Appearance and hitting the toggle next to Speedreader. This will cause compatible pages to load in reader mode automatically, making them faster and less bandwidth intensive. That makes Brave arguably the best browser for bandwidth and loading times.
Note: Reader mode works the same in the Brave mobile app, but they don’t seem to have implemented Speedreader for mobile yet.
2. How to turn on Reader Mode in Firefox
Firefox also has a built-in reader view, which can be activated by clicking Toggle reader view with the button on the right side of the URL bar – or by pressing F9. It works the same way in the Firefox app for Android and iOS.
3. How to turn on Reader Mode in Chrome
Chrome has its own reader mode, but it’s a little trickier to activate since its not turned on by default.
- Type chrome://flags in your URL bar
- Scroll down to Enable Reader Mode and set the drop down menu to Enabled
- When you see the pop up on the bottom of the screen, hit Relaunch
- Now you can enable reader mode from the button on the right side of the URL bar.
4. How to turn on Reader Mode in Safari
Unlike the other browsers on the list, Safari’s reader mode is found on the left side of the URL bar. On Mac, you simply hit the button, but on iOS you’re have to select Show reader view from the dropdown menu.
Text-Only News: Wrap-Up
Now, you’ve not only got a huge list of text-only news sites to choose from, but you also know how to use reader mode to make other sites lighter on your data too.
Are there any sites that we missed? Let us know in the comments.
If you want to use Usenet in the "normal" way (to download tons of media files fast), make sure to check out our Best Usenet Provider and related pages.