3 ms·

Show HN: A speed reading app to help you finish books in < half the time

2 points by Ronyisonline 7mo ago

Ronyisonline 7mo ago
Hi HN, I built this Speed reader to deal with the optical fatigue that comes from reading long articles and books. This eliminates the need for saccadic eye movements. Your eye stays entirely stationary while the text streams through the focal point which in turn helps you finish what you are reading in less than half the time required. You can paste any text block into it and test it instantly. I'd love feedback on the word centering offset math, the tokenization logic, or if you experience any frame-dropping at higher WPMs.
vunderba 7mo ago
Nice job. ReadSVP (an offline tool) is probably one of the most popular focal-point based speed readers out there but I've seen a few online ones pop up on HN in the past few months as well. WordBlip https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46643246 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46643246 SpeedWave https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44079218 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44079218 Some Feedback: You've got speed as WPM which implies a constant word rate but it clearly slows down in relation to the length of the current word. Nothing wrong with that, but are you factoring these unequal times such that the overall speed still matches the designated WPM?
- Ronyisonline 7mo ago
  First of all...good attention to detail man!! And yes that is something I have done intentionally i.e. the words which are longer than a certain threshold are shown for a longer period of time. But looking at the exact calculations...it would not exceed the word by a big extend unless there is a paragraph which has all the words which are very long.
beardyw 7mo ago
My only criticism would be that all commas are not created equal, so that pauses, say in lists, sometimes suggest meaning which was not intended.
- Ronyisonline 7mo ago
  I have not explicitly written any logic for variable commas ...only just the fact that there should be a lil bit of time gap between the commas. Just so that I can understand your question better...why does it matter ..like that's the way that has been pasted in the text so...the interface is showing just that.
  - beardyw 7mo ago
    Just that "It arrived, as if by magic" should be read with a significant pause, whereas "It contained potatoes, cabbages, cheese and beer" needs no pause at all. The commas merely indicate a list.
abstractspoon 7mo ago
Where's the pleasure in that?
- Ronyisonline 7mo ago
  It's dharma so no pleasure lol

2 points by Ronyisonline 7mo ago

Hi HN, I built this Speed reader to deal with the optical fatigue that comes from reading long articles and books. This eliminates the need for saccadic eye movements. Your eye stays entirely stationary while the text streams through the focal point which in turn helps you finish what you are reading in less than half the time required. You can paste any text block into it and test it instantly. I'd love feedback on the word centering offset math, the tokenization logic, or if you experience any frame-dropping at higher WPMs.

vunderba 7mo ago

Nice job. ReadSVP (an offline tool) is probably one of the most popular focal-point based speed readers out there but I've seen a few online ones pop up on HN in the past few months as well. WordBlip https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46643246 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46643246 SpeedWave https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44079218 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44079218 Some Feedback: You've got speed as WPM which implies a constant word rate but it clearly slows down in relation to the length of the current word. Nothing wrong with that, but are you factoring these unequal times such that the overall speed still matches the designated WPM?

Ronyisonline 7mo ago
First of all...good attention to detail man!! And yes that is something I have done intentionally i.e. the words which are longer than a certain threshold are shown for a longer period of time. But looking at the exact calculations...it would not exceed the word by a big extend unless there is a paragraph which has all the words which are very long.

beardyw 7mo ago

My only criticism would be that all commas are not created equal, so that pauses, say in lists, sometimes suggest meaning which was not intended.

Ronyisonline 7mo ago
I have not explicitly written any logic for variable commas ...only just the fact that there should be a lil bit of time gap between the commas. Just so that I can understand your question better...why does it matter ..like that's the way that has been pasted in the text so...the interface is showing just that.
- beardyw 7mo ago
  Just that "It arrived, as if by magic" should be read with a significant pause, whereas "It contained potatoes, cabbages, cheese and beer" needs no pause at all. The commas merely indicate a list.

abstractspoon 7mo ago

Where's the pleasure in that?

Ronyisonline 7mo ago
It's dharma so no pleasure lol