The document discusses Instapaper, a web-based application that allows users to save web content like articles, blogs, and videos to read offline on devices like computers, phones, and tablets. It describes key features like saving content from any browser or device, organizing saved items into folders, and sharing content with friends or on social networks. Instapaper provides a clean interface and allows distraction-free reading in an ad-free, text-only view optimized for mobile screens.

1. w w w. i n s t a p a p e r. c o m

2.  You're on the internet looking for one thing and
something else pops up and grabs your
attention.
 Someone sends a link to a great article and
reading it will take 10-15 minutes out of working
your day.
 You're headed for bed and can't focus on a
weighty article.
 Now is not a convenient time (you have to
restart your computer) or you just don’t feel like
it.
 Whatever … it’s something you might be
interested in at some future point in time, just
not now!

4.  You don’t want to get distracted.
 You think you might want it (a recipe or tech
article or a piece of research) but you don’t
have time to check it out.
 You don’t want to read it right now.
 Whatever ….you want to read it later.
 And another thing … you want to read it off line.

6.  Instapaper is a web
based application
that allows you to
save and read web
content offline later
on your:
 Computer
 iPhone
 iPad
 Kindle
 Android phone

7.  This is not just reading it later and throwing it
away like we used to do with paper.
 You may want to save it to use as a
reference material for project you working
on.
 You want to save a recipe you think you may
want to use it in the future - maybe more
than once.
 You want to share it with a friend by email.
 You may want to share it with all your friends
or on Facebook or Twitter.

8.  Too many bookmarks quickly
become unmanageable. You
can’t find anything and can’t
remember why you
bookmarked it anyways.
 You want to save your
bookmarks for genuinely
frequently used websites like
Facebook, for sites that use a
login like banks and credit
cards, for your email accounts
(for web mail), for movies
theaters and movie review
sites and so on.

9.  INTERFACE
 SAVE ‘n’ SYNC
 ORGANIZING
 READING
 SHARING
 BROWSING
 BACKING UP
 DRAWBACKS
 NUMBERS
 Extra BITS ‘n’ PIECES

10.  The interface
is nice and
clean—or bare
bones basic
depending on
your design
aesthetic.
 The
iPhone/iPad
and Web apps
all look, feel
and work a bit
differently.

11.  Save articles, web pages, blogs, videos,
audio files and more.
 All saved items available off line at any time.
 Save links to articles you haven't even looked
at - send a link from an email to your
Instapaper account.
 Sync seamlessly between all devices -
iPhone/iPad/computer.

12.  Use folders to keep unread topics under control.
 Send articles to Evernote you have read and are
sure you want to keep and re-use.
 Archive or delete
read articles so they
don’t stuff up your
devices.
 your favorite
articles.

13.  Jump to original website.
 Read text only – ad free. Images are retained.
 Reading is optimized for iPhone/iPad screens.
 Hyperlinks are retained in the text—they are not saved
as footnotes/references at the end of an article.
 Customizing of fonts (including san serif) and font
size, line spacing and column width etc. is easy and
good enough:
 iPhone/iPad viewing features in read mode include:
 tilt scrolling (my personal favorite viewing feature).
 double tap to show/hide the top/bottom bars
 single tap a photo to share or zoom/pinch

14.  Email to friends.
 Share with your social networks
(Facebook/Twitter).
 Save to Evernote

15.  Use the Browse function to see your friends’
favorite articles and share your faves with them.
 Read the Instapaper community's most saved
stories.

16.  Export a cvs or html file of all your saved articles.
 Export is limited to the most recent 2000.

17.  Instapaper is supported by over 150 other
iPhone and iPad apps.
 Nice built in Dictionary (tap and hold –
iPhone/iPad)
 iPhone/iPad viewing features in read mode:
 tilt scrolling
 double tap to show/hide the top/bottom bars
 single tap a photo to share or zoom and pinch

18.  Filing folders takes patience.
 There’s no drag/drop or easy sorting.
 Save to Kindle isn’t seamless yet.
 There’s no search feature therefore use of folders
is key. Apparently you get this feature with a paid
subscription. In the meantime you can export a
cvs file and sort and search there.
 There’s no note taking or highlighting facility - this
is Read-and-Share-Only.
 The link to an RSS feed (Google Reader) is no
longer available.

19.  COST
 Web app is free.
 $4.95 for the iToys app (one time charge)
 Support the developer with a $1 a month
donation. This will surely speed up feature
development.
 ARTICLE LIMITS
 500 article limit on iPhone/iPad.
 Unlimited on Web.

20.  www.instapaper.co
m
 Once you have an
account and are
signed in click on
Account (top
right) to set up
sharing options.

21.  Link Facebook,
and Evernote in
just a few quick
minutes and
Twitter, Tumblr
and Pinboard if
you use them!.

22.  Email a link
directly from
your mail
box to
Instapaper

23.  POSTBOX
 MAIL

24.  Readability: www.readability.com
 Read it Later: www.readitlaterlist.com
 Clearly: www.evernote.com/clearly
 KlipMe: www.klip.me

25.  Marco Arment is the founder of
Instapaper. He cofounded Tumblr
and served as its lead developer
for four years, scaling it from zero
to thousands of requests per
second.
 He is based in New York and
writes about software, technology,
and coffee at www.marco.org
 Instapaper Blog:
http://blog.instapaper.com/

26.  Sharing articles with your Kindle is fiddly.
 http://david-
smith.org/blog/2012/01/13/instapaper-on-the-
kindle/