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CodePen VS Reader Mode

Compare CodePen VS Reader Mode and see what are their differences

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CodePen logo CodePen

A front end web development playground.

Reader Mode logo Reader Mode

Remove clutter and ads from any article. Instantly ⚡
  • CodePen Landing page
    Landing page //
    2018-09-30
  • Reader Mode Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-09-29

CodePen features and specs

  • Real-time Collaboration
    Developers can collaborate with others in real-time, making it easy to work on projects with teammates or seek help from the community.
  • Immediate Visual Feedback
    CodePen allows you to see the results of your code as you write it, which is highly beneficial for learning and debugging.
  • Integrated Development Environment (IDE)
    CodePen provides a comfortable and feature-rich online IDE environment with syntax highlighting, autocomplete, and more.
  • Community-Driven
    Users can share their work with the CodePen community, receive feedback, and explore a wide range of projects created by others.
  • Extensive Resources
    CodePen offers a wealth of examples and templates for various web development tasks, making it a useful resource for learning and inspiration.
  • Cross-Device Accessibility
    Being an online platform, CodePen can be accessed from any device with an internet connection, making it convenient for developers on the move.

Possible disadvantages of CodePen

  • Limited Offline Functionality
    Since CodePen is primarily an online tool, it requires an internet connection for most of its features to work, limiting its usefulness in offline environments.
  • Performance Constraints
    Complex or resource-intensive projects may not perform as well on CodePen as they would in a full-fledged local development environment.
  • Subscription Costs
    While many features are free, advanced functionalities and additional storage options require a paid subscription, which may not be ideal for all users.
  • Limited Backend Capabilities
    CodePen is primarily designed for front-end development, so it offers limited support for backend technologies, making it less suitable for full-stack or server-side development.
  • Dependency Management
    Managing dependencies and libraries can be cumbersome compared to local development environments which have better tools for this purpose, like npm.
  • Security Concerns
    Sharing projects with the public can expose your code and assets to unauthorized use, posing potential intellectual property and security risks.

Reader Mode features and specs

  • Simplified Reading Experience
    Reader Mode strips away ads, pop-ups, and other distractions, providing a clean and focused environment for reading content.
  • Customization Options
    Reader Mode offers various customization features, like font size, style, background color, and text spacing, to make reading comfortable for different users.
  • Read-Aloud Feature
    It includes a text-to-speech feature that enables users to listen to the content, which is beneficial for visually impaired users or those who prefer auditory learning.
  • Offline Reading
    Users can save articles for offline reading, allowing them to access their favorite content without an internet connection.
  • Annotation Tools
    Reader Mode offers tools for highlighting text, adding notes, and bookmarking, which can be useful for research or study purposes.
  • Clutter-free Printing
    It provides an option to print web pages without unnecessary elements, making the printed document clean and more readable.

Possible disadvantages of Reader Mode

  • Compatibility Issues
    Reader Mode may not work perfectly on all websites, particularly those with complex layouts or heavy use of multimedia.
  • Limited Features in Free Version
    While the basic functions are free, more advanced features and customization options require a subscription.
  • Possible Formatting Problems
    In some cases, the stripped-down version of the content may lose valuable information or alter the original formatting, affecting the reading experience.
  • Dependency on Extensions
    Reader Mode typically requires browser extensions or add-ons, which might not be available or compatible with all browsers.
  • Privacy Concerns
    Users might be wary of granting permissions to a third-party extension, which could potentially access their browsing data.
  • Resource Intensive
    Using extensions like Reader Mode can consume additional system resources, potentially affecting browser performance and speed.

CodePen videos

+ Add

What Is Codepen?

More videos:

  • Review - Learn to use CodePen from a co-founder of CodePen
  • Review - Using CodePen For Inspiration & Learning

Reader Mode videos

+ Add

Over in a Minute Reviews Reader Mode

More videos:

  • Review - Hidden Reader Mode for Google Chrome

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to CodePen and Reader Mode)

CodePen

Reader Mode

Text Editors
100 100%
Text Editors
0% 0
Bookmark Manager
0 0%
Bookmark Manager
100% 100
Programming
100 100%
Programming
0% 0
Bookmarks
0 0%
Bookmarks
100% 100

User comments

Share your experience with using CodePen and Reader Mode. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare CodePen and Reader Mode

CodePen Reviews

Best Forums for Developers to Join in 2025
Codepen is a social network for developers to show off their work, ask and answer questions, and exchange ideas. It's like a Reddit for coding and design, with a large community of talented web developers.
Source: www.notchup.com
Top 10 Developer Communities You Should Explore
Codepen is a social development environment that allows developers to showcase their work and experiment with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript in a collaborative space. Codepen’s focus on visual and interactive development makes it an excellent community for front-end developers and designers.
Source: www.qodo.ai
8 Best Replit Alternatives & Competitors in 2022 (Free & Paid) - Software Discover
Codepen is a social development environment for front-end designers and developers. Build and deploy a website, show off your work, build test cases to learn.
Source: www.softwarediscover.com
Best Online Code Editors For Web Developers
Probably the most popular online code editor. CodePen is fast, easy to use, and allows a web developer to write and share HTML/CSS/JS code online.
Source: techarge.in
Top 25 websites for coding challenge and competition [Updated for 2021]
CodePen is a cool online IDE that allows you to write code in your browser and see the result just as you build it. CodePen challenges is a place for leveling up your skills by building things. Each week, new challenges appear for you to tackle, and the best “Pens” get picked.
Source: towardsdatascience.com

Reader Mode Reviews

We have no reviews of Reader Mode yet.
Be the first one to post

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, CodePen seems to be a lot more popular than Reader Mode. While we know about 503 links to CodePen, we've tracked only 7 mentions of Reader Mode. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

CodePen mentions (503)

View more

Reader Mode mentions (7)

  • The "Cheap" Web
    I usually tend to use Reader mode in Safari or ReaderMode[1] in Google Chrome. In-fact, I have set Reader Mode as default for a few common website such as that of PG's. 1. https://readermode.io/. - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • Confusion and hurt ripples through Maple Leafs in wake of Kyle Dubas’ dismissal
    You can use reader mode on a computer too Https://readermode.io/. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • Is there a "reader mode" website?
    You probably used a site called outline.com but unfortunately the website was recently discontinued. There are many chrome extensions for it, which many of them can be used on chrome for android, as well as the fact that the safari browser for iPhone has it built in. readermode.io works well for me on Chrome. Source: over 2 years ago
  • McDonald’s, 1987 Ad.
    There's a paywall on this article, which I had to use Reader Mode to bypass. It did a pretty decent job, and it's also good for people with dyslexia according to the website. But here's the article's content so you don't have to download an extension for it. Source: almost 3 years ago
  • Combining Toucan with reading mode?
    On the Right is the same page with the https://readermode.io/ extension activated. Source: about 3 years ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing CodePen and Reader Mode, you can also consider the following products

JSFiddle - Test your JavaScript, CSS, HTML or CoffeeScript online with JSFiddle code editor.

Easy Reader - EasyReader can customize and improve the readability of long web articles

CodeSandbox - Online playground for React

WebCull - WebCull is an ad-free, privacy-focused bookmark manager that works from any browser or device.

GitHub - Originally founded as a project to simplify sharing code, GitHub has grown into an application used by over a million people to store over two million code repositories, making GitHub the largest code host in the world.

Save For Later - Allows you to bookmark any website to read later.

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