A workflow dedicated to reading web content
Over the last 15-20 years I’ve kept up a reading habit that is driven by only content I find online. I read an average of 10-20 “articles” per day and they range from single panel comics to forum threads to blog posts to mainstream news. If it looks interesting, I’m likely going to read it at some point.
If that seems like an absurd amount of reading day to day: it is! But! I do not consume much television, movie or other video content. It’s incredibly rare for me to sit and watch video of my own volition. I’ll go as far as skipping video content when I come across it. Yes, I’m “different” and “weird” about video and I genuinely don’t give a shit ; video isn’t for me.
Given I live in a world of reading despite the world moving onto video, one of the first things folk wonder is: “how do you feed that habit?!”. I use the web a lot day to day, talk with people in online communities and exist on a few forum sites and smaller social networks. I’ve also developed a list of sites I find compelling (usually blogs) and I track a few news aggregation sites.
Despite Orwell being right about “video walls” and their use to control folk… the world is awash in text (go [re]read Fahrenheit 451 if that or the following don’t land). You just need to break away from the catatonic trance induced by video content. Text is everywhere if you keep an eye out. I regularly find new sites, online articles, scientific papers and more. I don’t even have a need to go to video land. I can easily be overwhelmed by text if I’m not careful.
To keep on top of the text I want to read and to feed my reading list, I use a variety of self-hosted software. Don’t panic: there are options that allow you to create this workflow without self-hosting things. There are quite a few alternatives for those that don’t want to touch computers on an intermediate to advanced level. I will give what I use, alternatives and put forth full detail in a generic fashion. I’ve used a few services and many self-hosted options over time. The workflow is the useful portion, not the specific software.
Workflow
The way I setup my workflow is pretty simple.
I keep an eye out for interesting text content, keep an eye on RSS/Atom feeds, catalog things sent to me by friends to read “later” and keep an eye on my social feeds (Activity Pub, forums, etc).
I then take anything compelling and put it in one of two places: my “to read” pile or my “for later” pile. The “to read” pile is things I will actually read within a few days. The “for later” pile is a list of items I’d like to revisit but aren’t going to be acted upon soon. The “to read” pile is heavy on blog posts, news, etc. The “for later” pile is heavy on products that look interesting, software projects and other items like recipes I want to eventually try. This is a fuzzy distinction and pretty “loose” as I may move items between the two piles haphazardly over time.
The last bit of my workflow is long term archival. Some of what I read I’d like to keep a copy of for the future. I’m discerning here. Science papers, technical blogs, accessibility info, decolonization info and more make up the bulk of my personal archive.
What this distills down to is:
- a fire hose of possible reading material
- content pulled from the fire hose to read
- content pulled from the fire hose to revisit later
- an archive of compelling works that form a kind of personal library
It really is simple from a high level. The pain and nuance is in the detail and day to day use.
Fire Hose
For the fire hose I use Miniflux and previously used FreshRSS. I’ve used other sites like NewsBlur too but found I prefer self-hosting my reading software. This fire hose is RSS and Atom feeds pulled from any site I find interesting on the whole (usually blogs), news aggregation feeds (Fark / Hacker News / Slashdot / others). I go through Miniflux a few times a day and put anything compelling into my “to read” or “for later” piles as appropriate.
The fire hose of feeds took years to develop and I’ve adjusted things I track over time. It’s a “living system” and evolves to meet my day to day desires and needs over time. Invest in this. It’s important.
To Read Pile
For the “to read” pile I use Wallabag currently and I regularly recommend Pocket and Read It Later as non-self-hosted alternatives. They all take a web page, save it and present the content as if it was opened in “reading mode” in a browser. I see just the content, pictures and basic formatting. No ads, no pop-up interruptions, just the actual text I want to read.
For Later Pile
For the “for later” pile I use Linkding currently. Previously I used a “follow up” tag in Wallabag. I had a hard time with keeping “for later” alongside “to read” so I adjusted. Using a “follow up” or “for later” tag inside the main reading app is valid, just not for me. Linkding is a simple bookmark management app. You can use any for the “for later” pile. The pile is for content you can lose without worry and for things that may just be deleted later or folded into an archive or reading list. I use tags heavily with Linkding so I can find things later. The main use is to keep my “to read” pile focused and stress free (things awaiting follow up “in my face” causes a lot of stress for me). I did setup some auto tag rules for some recipe and source code sites to save me the hassle of adding them for each link I add.
Archive
For my archive (library?) I use ArchiveBox. It’s essentially a self-hosted Internet Archive or archive.is. There are other options and I leave this piece up to you to sort for how you want to catalog content long term, if at all. I don’t use my archive much but I’m always thankful I have it. I use tags here heavily and they are similar to the ones I use with the “for later” pile. I may not use this setup much day to day but if I am trying to find info for reference, sharing or simply re-visiting; the archive is a huge help. More than a few times a website has gone offline but the content I needed was in my archive so nothing was lost from my perspective.
Parting Thoughts
That’s my reading setup in full. It’s deceptively simple and very powerful for all things text and reading. The trick is finding which software works best for your brain. Finding sources of material takes time and maintenance as does tag management. I regularly tweak and tune my tags and sources of material. Not out of necessity per se. More like managing entropy so the setup remains useful over long periods of time and doesn’t end up becoming more pain than gain or wholly useless. It’s been at least 15 years, more like 20, and the above approach still works great. Here’s hoping I get even more decades from this approach.
If you read a lot or want to read more, the above is a good approach. Just remember to adjust as needed. This works for me and I know I’m “different” (we all are…). Don’t take the above as “the only way” or “gospel”. It’s a starting point and should be adjusted to individual need.
Happy reading?