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AaRead (Bionic) — Read webpages fast and maintain focus
AaRead is a reading helper for your eyes and brain. It makes some letters extra bold to make reading fast and keep effort low. This is great for folks with ADHD, dyslexia, or anyone whose brain gets bored easily when reading.
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While I initially thought it was a text-to-speech reader (based on the title), the highlighting of the first few letters on the page caught my attention. Useful Plugin, But we have different tools on bionic concept in chrome market. Are you thinking to baseline this work extended to new features?
@bhaskaaraa2 Haha, you're right! Now that I think about it, the headline does make it sound like a text-to-speech reader. Glad you clicked on it anyway! Yes, I know there are other bionic reading extensions, but I found them to be either paid or super glitchy. The buggy part especially frustrated me. I'm big on performance and optimization, so I made sure mine works blazingly fast. It uses a web worker for the word tokenization so it doesn't overload your browser main thread. I wanted to do a really good job with this, and also have the freedom to add features as I see fit. Thanks for the support!!!
AaRead sounds like a thoughtful solution. Can you share more about how it works with different websites or if there are specific scenarios where AaRead excels? I'd also love to know what inspired you to focus on improving readability for those with ADHD, dyslexia, or other reading difficulties.
@r_martirosyan I've been deep in the trenches working for a mobile app for people with ADHD, wearing both the designer and engineer hats, so I really get what the needs are :) We have a similar reading method integrated in the app, but I developed this extension from scratch using a more complex algorithm suited for web platforms.
I've tested this extension on most popular websites and use cases, such as popular news magazines, platforms like Reddit, Twitter, and even tech docs at work, and, yes, Wikipedia :D. The idea was to make something not just effective but also lightning fast and ridiculously simple to use. There're still websites where it doesn't work – in those cases, the extension will display a "DIED" status, but I’m on it—got a fix in mind!
Essentially, the extension scans all the text on a page, sends it off to be processed by a web worker (keeping your main thread unoccupied), and then highlights the initial half of the letters in each word, transforming your reading experience. Overall, it should work on most standard webpages where your main focus is reading, but it's not meant for file types like PDFs or epubs.
Thanks for the genuine interest! I was happy to answer :)
Definitely hit the upvote on this. it's about time we got some reading tech that caters to different needs. The bold letter trick seems simple, but if it can help folks stay on track with the text, that’s a big deal.
I’m curious though, how does it choose which letters to bold? Does it really know exactly what my brain needs to stay focused? Would be clutch to know it's custom-tailored and not just random.
Also, I’m wondering if there's a way to adjust the settings for longer reads? Like, if I'm diving into a deep article or a chapter of a book, can I set it to keep my eyes on the prize without straining?
@aman_wen Yo, thanks so much for the upvote and sharing your thoughts! You're right, the bolding seems simple, but making it work nicely on the webpage is actually kinda tricky, haha.
Right now, it bolds about half of each word (which is pretty standard). I love the idea of making that adjustable though! Honestly, I mainly built this for fun and to get better at shipping products, so I kept it super simple to use. But I might add some new features down the line.
About longer reads: It will keep working for hours on sites like Reddit or Twitter where the content changes. For books, it depends – if you're reading the book on a regular website, it should work well. But if it's a special e-reader format, it won't work.
@saquib_sbh Absolutely nothing gets tracked – AaRead does everything locally. Google is very strict about extensions and data collection, so you can actually check this on the extension's main page. I've officially stated that AaRead doesn't collect any data, and Google has confirmed it. 😉
My reading speed increased by 50%. I also tested without the extension and found my pace was slower.
Good one.
Great idea! I personally get easily distracted while reading, and your product did indeed help to keep my focus.
We launched our product as well, would love for you to check us out Waxwing
@aditi_vaishnav1 Me too! My mind wanders all the time when I try to read. It could be the novelty of this reading method that helps so much, and of course, the method itself. Congrats on your launch, guys! I'll definitely check out Waxwing and support you.
AaRead (Bionic)