abarbarian Posted April 20, 2023 Share Posted April 20, 2023 What Is Bionic Reading? Quote Bionic reading is a method of reading that combines traditional reading with technology-assisted tools. This helps readers increase their reading speed, improve their comprehension and retention, and ultimately become more productive in their reading activities. Came across this technique and thought I would give it a go as me eyesight is not as good as it once was. The article recommends " Bionic Reading " for Chrome but gives no suggestion for FireFox. However I did find " Bionic Reader " which although offered by a different developer seems to be an exact copy of 'Bionic Reading'. Bionic Reading for Chrome Bionic Reader for FireFox I gave 'Bionic Reader' a try out on FireFox but found that there were too many customisation options for me. I did try fiddling around with the settings and could see how useful it may be if you were up to spending time customising it to fit yourself. Putting me off keeping it installed was the fact that I could find no way to place a icon on the toolbar. Poking around the FireFox add-on site I found " Smart Reader " which as far as I can see does not have any customisation settings. It does almost have the same fault as ' Bionic Reading ', there is an icon for the tool bar but when the tool is turned off you can hardly see it, turned on and you can see the icon. ' Smart Reader ' only highlights the first letter of every word apart from words with two or less letters. Smart Reader for FireFox Smart Reader for Chrome I found that 'Smart Reader' does seem to make reading somewhat easier. FireFox has an inbuilt reader view accessed through (Ctrl+Alt+R) which I find very useful along with the zoom controls using either or both of those makes reading web pages much more pleasant and easier on the eye. A combination of 'reader view' and 'Smart Reader' is very acceptable for me. You have to start 'Smart Reader' before starting 'reader view' for it to work. One thing to take note of. When using 'Smart Reader' or 'Bionic Reading' in Chrome or Fire Fox the tool has the ability to record every web page and all the information you use on web pages. Like passwords and usernames etc. Both developers state that they do not collect any information or sell it or pass it on to third parties. So it may be best to just use the tool with caution. For instance I only switch them on when I have found a long article to read and switch it of again when finished reading. Quote Access your data for all websites The extension could read the content of any web page you visit as well as data you enter into those web pages, such as usernames and passwords. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunrat Posted April 20, 2023 Share Posted April 20, 2023 I just tried Bionic Reader for FireFox. Didn't change any settings apart from turning it on. Seems to work fine. It highlights a variable number of letters in words rather than just the two that Smart Reader does. I'll try it for a bit; interesting idea but I'll have to be convinced it's better before deciding to keep it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abarbarian Posted April 20, 2023 Author Share Posted April 20, 2023 6 hours ago, sunrat said: I just tried Bionic Reader for FireFox. Didn't change any settings apart from turning it on. Seems to work fine. It highlights a variable number of letters in words rather than just the two that Smart Reader does. I'll try it for a bit; interesting idea but I'll have to be convinced it's better before deciding to keep it. I found the variable number of higlighted words a tad distracting, but I only had a real quick go at Bionic Reader. I'll give them both a decent tryout. Best for me so far is Smart Reader with FF's reader view. Did you get a icon on the toolbar for BR ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunrat Posted April 21, 2023 Share Posted April 21, 2023 13 hours ago, abarbarian said: Did you get a icon on the toolbar for BR ? Yes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abarbarian Posted April 21, 2023 Author Share Posted April 21, 2023 1 hour ago, sunrat said: Yes. Hmmm I don't get one. Very curious. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunrat Posted April 21, 2023 Share Posted April 21, 2023 19 hours ago, abarbarian said: I found the variable number of higlighted words a tad distracting, You can vary that with "Bionic Strength" , and "Bionic Weight" defines how many letters a word must have before it gets highlights. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abarbarian Posted April 22, 2023 Author Share Posted April 22, 2023 19 hours ago, sunrat said: You can vary that with "Bionic Strength" , and "Bionic Weight" defines how many letters a word must have before it gets highlights. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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