Using the browser
 

Is there anyway to make using the browser less frustrating? I know it is basic, but any ideas on making it more user friendly?

Well, what I do is save the sites I go to regularly as favourites (because it's such a pain to type everything out...). Other than that, couldn't suggest anything else.

True already do that. What I was thinking about, is the poor performance of the browser, poor display, etc.. Anyone got any ideas on this aspect of it?

Given the limitations of the eInk display, I wouldn't expect much from using a web browser on any eInk device.

Regards,
David

Agreed, I understand the limitations. I just wondered if anyone knew of any tweaks to make it more usable.

Bookmarks what you need. Check the boxes "keep me connected" so you don't have to retype your passwords. Use the mobile version of the websites (usually like http://m.example.com instead of http://www.example.com). Avoid websites with a lot of pictures, and stay clear away from animated gif.

And if you're on the new firmware with Pocket integration, save long articles to your pocket account for far easier reading.

All good answers, the one I didn't think about, even though I use a smartphone, is using mobile website url. Thanks all.
Any other ideas that people use when using the browser on ereader?

Download books from Project Gutenberg, feedbooks. Quickly get a little download complete icon. I even bought some books from Kobo using Kobo Reader's browser.
I once read some yahoo email and read some news sites that doesn't have pictures or video. Worked but not something I often use.

Idle thoughts ...

If less than half of internet traffic is actual visible content
&
Google has over 60% of the ad server market
&
one were to block google ads (& another 2-3 big players)
so > 80% ad processing was not required
&
TEXT (the part you want to read) is < 1% many/most websites
&
a "text and image ONLY" browser need render 1-5% of all "possible" content
because you drop all need for audio/video heavy lifting
&
A few lines in a host file will ignore
much "non-content" traffic and ads
[the method to do this is posted on this site and elsewhere]
&
a couple of lines of CSS would make visibility -ideal- for reading
something like ...
if text,
{font color = black
background = white
background images = white}
done
[this has been demonstrated in threads on this site]

.... While there is reason to doubt
Kobo would want to implement
any such changes in their
"unsupported" kobo browser ...
;)

Is there any reason a
- text & image only -
browser using low (mobile/phone) power
would not or
could not
- render text and image pages
"instantly" on an EInk screen ?

Further:
Would not, such a browser
on a minimum of battery load,
render
the whole of internet text content
readable directly
(no cloud storage required)
in available light (as if on paper) ?

Just askin'
:D

Some suggestions for your bookmarks : http://www.reddit.com/r/kobo/comment...d_web_browser/

However, I have a problem with gMail : I am always disconnected when I close the web browser. So every time I want to use it I have to input the password. That's very annoying. Am I the only one with this problem?

When I had a browser (eons ago) I used it mostly to check Wikipedia on some term or download books loaded on Dropbox. This was much more convenient than downloading them with Calibre. If the Kobo has a browser I should be able to do this with no problems. For general purpose navigation eink based browsers are useless...

A great feature on my Sony reader is when when selecting a word for look up in dictionary I have option to look up in Wikipedia or Google. This is as easy as using dictionary with options shown in tree format to choose Wikipedia, or Google with Dictionary deffinition at bottom of page. Minimum touches and no key board required.

This functionality is now available on Kobo FW 2.10. Choose the search icon in the bottom menu that pops up when you select a word.

That's a great thing I used to love about the Sony myself. I'm glad it's in the Kobo, I can't wait to get mine!