Save your quick reads for later

Read It Later offers a simple interface with several useful options

(Credit: CNET Networks, Inc.)

Read It Later is a Firefox extension that should appeal to anybody trying to minimize bookmark and open tab clutter. As you peruse links sent from friends and RSS feeds that deposit little nuggets of truth that you just don't have time for right now, Read It Later gives you a one-click option for saving the links and keeping track of which ones have been read.

When you restart Firefox after loading the extension, it will automatically prompt you to install the two Toolbar buttons that are used to control the extension and manage your reading list. Users can also control adding bookmarks to their reading list via the context menu, the Bookmarks menu itself, or with hotkeys, making access to your daily detritus fast and painless.

Green for unsaved pages...

I found the toolbar button Read This Page Later great for adding URLs I had already loaded, while the ''R'' plus Left click hotkey command was easiest for saving links I knew I'd be interested in but hadn't yet fired up.

Loading a saved page is easy. The second button that comes with the extension manages your ''Read something later'' list. Click on the button to open a page from your list, or click on the triangle at the bottom of the button to see your drop-down list and access plug-in options.

The Options list is actually quite robust. You can choose to open saved pages in a new tab or the current one, you can open the entire reading list into new tabs simultaneously, and you can also set the button to open pages randomly or in order.

...and red for saved ones.

(Credit: CNET Networks, Inc.)

The bookmark folder that Read It Later pages are saved to is customizable, and users who really want to explore the extension's abilities can play around with the less-stable Offline reading option. The plug-in also remembers your reads list, so if you close Firefox, your Read It Later bookmarks get saved and come back when you restart the program.

The extension is currently not available from the Mozilla add-on Web site, but don't let that bother you. Many plug-ins can a long time to be approved by the Mozilla administrators. There's no doubt, though, that Read It Later ran smoothly and glitch-free, and is exceptionally useful at simultaneously killing Firefox tab clutter and skyrocketing RAM use.