Sarari in iOS5 is a much improved browser for iDevices. Geoffry Goetz provides a helpful overview of the whole range of improvements.  I’ll focus here on one new feature built into Safari for iOS5 that works much like Readability to make it easier to read web pages.

Safari Reader is a feature that has been available in recent versions of the Safari browser running on both Mac and PC computers. With iOS5, it is now available in Safari on Apple’s mobile devices.  Safari Reader removes ads and other distracting content on a web page. Reader leaves only text with related illustrations. Reader also offers a convenient way of adjusting font size, which will be helpful for anyone with low vision.

When Safari opens a web page that contains an article, such as a blog post or Wikipedia entry, a ‘Reader’ button appears in the address bar, as shown in the image of a Wikipedia article below. Note: this button will not appear on the “home” page of a website or blog. You must go to a specific article or blog post for the ‘Reader’ button to show up.  Nor will the button appear on a page without text, such as a page consisting exclusively of embedded video or lists of links.

Clicking the ‘Reader’ button on the original article brings up the screen shown at the bottom. Notice the convenient opportunity to adjust font size, with potential to make the font extremely large for anyone with low vision.  On the iPad, clicking on the ‘Reader’ button a second time brings back the original article.  On the iPhone, a ‘Done’ button serves the same purpose.