SpeedRead

A simple one-page web app for speed-reading: paste text or upload a document, then read one word at a time with optional center-letter highlighting.

Live app: https://hromp.com/speedread/

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How to use

1. Open the live app or run index.html locally (in a modern browser or via any static server).
2. Paste text into the text area, or upload a PDF, TXT, or other supported file.
3. Adjust Words per minute (60–1000 WPM), Font size, and Highlight center letter if you like.
4. Click Play (or press Space) to start. Use Pause / Play and ← Back / Forward → (or arrow keys) as needed.
5. During playback, controls auto-hide after a few seconds; move the mouse or press a key to bring them back.

Keyboard shortcuts

Key	Action
Space	Play / Pause
←	Previous word
→	Next word

Supported files

• PDF — text extracted in-browser (PDF.js, self-hosted or on-demand)
• TXT, MD, HTML, XML, JSON, CSV — read as plain text

Tech

• Plain HTML, CSS, and JavaScript; no build step.
• PDF.js for PDF text extraction (bundled as pdf.min.js / pdf.worker.min.js in deployment, or load from CDN).
• Monospace font (JetBrains Mono) for the reader so the highlighted center letter stays in a fixed position at high WPM.

Browser extension (Chrome, Firefox, Safari)

The extension/ folder is a Manifest V3 WebExtension that speed-reads the current tab.

• HTML articles: main text is extracted with Mozilla Readability (with fallbacks), then the reader opens in a new tab (text is passed via storage.session). Embedding the reader in an iframe was blocked on many sites by Content-Security-Policy (frame-src), which showed a blank/black area.
• PDF files (direct http/https URL ending in .pdf): the built-in PDF viewer does not run normal content scripts, so the extension fetches the PDF from the tab URL in the background, extracts text with PDF.js, and opens the reader in a new tab (text is passed via storage.session). Scanned/image-only PDFs may yield little or no text. PDFs without .pdf in the URL (or opened from file://) can still be read via Upload in the reader.

Use the toolbar button or the shortcut Alt+Shift+S (configurable under extension shortcuts).

Firefox / Firefox for Android (AMO listing): the manifest targets Firefox 140+ on desktop and Firefox for Android 142+ (required for Mozilla’s data consent fields and Android listing).

Firefox toolbar icon: new extensions appear in the extensions menu (puzzle piece on the right), not on the bar, until you pin them. Open that menu → find SpeedRead → click the pin beside it (or use ⋯ / gear → Pin to Toolbar). Optional: Add-ons → SpeedRead → Preferences opens a short page with the same steps.

Build the extension (copies the latest app.js / styles.css from the repo root and bundles the content script):

cd extension && npm install && npm run build

Then load the unpacked folder:

• Chrome / Chromium / Edge: chrome://extensions → Developer mode → Load unpacked → choose the extension/ directory.
• Firefox: about:debugging → This Firefox → Load Temporary Add-on → select extension/manifest.json.

Safari does not load unpacked WebExtensions directly. On a Mac with Xcode, convert the same extension/ folder:

xcrun safari-web-extension-converter /path/to/speedread-1/extension

Open the generated Xcode project, enable the Safari extension target, and run to sign and install (Apple Developer account required for distribution outside your machine).

Restricted pages (e.g. chrome://, about:, the browser store) cannot run the extension; use the standalone web app there. PDFs must be reachable at an http(s) URL whose path ends in .pdf for automatic extraction; otherwise use upload in the reader.

License

GNU General Public License v3.0 (GPL-3.0). See LICENSE.

Version

1.6.1 — see CHANGELOG.md.