Reading mode

A long thread on most social apps reads like a chat log: timestamps, avatars, reply chains. A long thread on Lanai’s Reading mode reads like an article.

The chrome quiets. The wallpaper fades to a single calm color. The posts join into a continuous column set at full editorial discipline — generous line height, optical-sized serif type, real paragraph spacing, hanging punctuation where the typeface supports it. The author’s name appears at the top, the way a byline does. Replies and quote-posts thread inline as the author’s argument moves through them.

The intent is small: when somebody has written something long enough to be worth sitting down with, Lanai gives you a place to sit down. Not a feed-row treatment with a “show more” link. A page.

What’s in it

• A single column at a comfortable reading width — neither the narrow column of a phone nor the over-wide span of a desktop browser
• Display-sized serif type for the body, with line height tuned to 1.55–1.65×
• A subtle ambient tint that follows time of day, so an evening read looks like an evening read
• Tabular numerals for any counts, dates, or durations that appear inline
• Reduce-motion behavior built in from the start — no flourish that you can’t turn off

On the way

Reading mode is on the v1.0 roadmap. It is the most-requested feature in the app’s prerelease conversations and the one that connects the typography work to a real reading destination. We mention it here rather than promise it: the page is honest about what ships when, and Reading mode ships when it ships.