OS X El Capitan: Use a gray background in Safari Reader

OS X El Capitan brings many changes to Apple’s desktop operating system. One of the best is also probably one of the most overlooked: the ability to use a gray background with white text in Safari Reader. This change gives OS X El Capitan users the ability to make any Web page resemble the popular Daring Fireball blog.

In this tip I’ll show you how to change Safari Reader’s background to gray with white text in OS X El Capitan.

How to use a gray background in Safari Reader in OS X El Capitan

Just follow these steps to change Safari Reader’s background to gray in OS X El Capitan:

1. Open Safari in OS X El Capitan and go to the web page you want to read.

2. Tap on the Reader button on the left side of the URL field at the top of Safari.

3. Tap the font button (the letter A) on the right side of the URL field at the top of Safari.

4. The font and color selection menu will appear.

5. Tap on the gray color option that now appears between Sepia and Black.

Why use the gray background in Safari Reader in OS X El Capitan?

Some of you might be wondering where the gray background with white text fits into Safari Reader in terms of daily use. It’s a fair enough question since Safari Reader already had black text on a white background, black text on a sepia background, and white text on a black background for night reading.

For me the gray background with white text offers a more comfortable option for daytime reading. I’ve found it to be a bit easier on my eyes than black text on a white background, or even black text on a sepia background. It makes viewing web page content not only more legible, but also less bright and irritating to my eyes.

Safari Reader, of course, was already a terrific tool to make web page content much easier to read. Far too many web sites have terrible design problems that make reading content difficult, and Safari Reader fixes that problem. But now there’s yet another color option in Safari Reader that will please many OS X El Capitan users.

And, of course, if you are a fan of the Daring Fireball news blog then whitish text on a grayish background is already something that you have seen in the past. So using the gray background with white text in Safari Reader in OS X El Capitan will feel quite similar to reading the Daring Fireball blog.

I’m very happy that Apple added the option to use a gray background with white text in Safari Reader in OS X El Capitan. For me it hits a serious sweet spot when it comes to reading web pages during daylight hours. So be sure to give the new color scheme a try when you upgrade to OS X El Capitan, I think you’ll be very glad you did.

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