SpeeD ReaD ("Speedy Read-y") Wiki
SpeeD ReaD is a little program to help you read faster.
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SpeeD ReaD ("Speedy Read-y") helps you to read faster and more efficiently. By minimizing subvocalization and saccades, you can process and comprehend the text you read much faster than with normal reading.
First, subvocalization is the natural tendency for all of us to "hear" the words in our brains as we read. Think of it as reading out loud inside your head. But our minds do not need us to sound out the words we read - even inside our heads - in order to understand them. The words can be processed in a fraction of the time it takes us to sound them out. SpeeD ReaD forces you to simply comprehend words by sight.
Additionally, as we read blocks of text on a screen or in a book, our eyes tend to vacillate between rapid movements (saccades), as we move to the next word, and stops, as we focus on a word. By showing each word in the same area of the screen, SpeeD ReaD eliminates those unnecessary eye movements.
How Does SpeeD ReaD Work?
When you first open the program, you will see a large reading panel. This is where the words you will be reading will appear. Click on the New Text icon to paste in the text you want to read. This will activate the Play button.
When you press play, the words of your text will flash on the screen at a certain Words Per Minute (WPM) that you set yourself. Adjust the slider on the bottom-left of your screen to speed up or slow down the WPM. The program starts with the WPM set to 250, which is a comfortable speed for many who haven't tried this manner of speed reading before.
On the bottom of the screen, there are settings which you may customize to your own preferences. Just to the right of the WPM slider is a "Pause for punctuation" checkbox. With this selected, the program will automatically decrease the WPM by 1/3 whenever punctuation appears on the screen (i.e. "," "." "?" or "!"). Next, you may set the font size for the words of your text to whatever is most comfortable for you. Finally, you can change the bacground color between White, Cream, or Neutral. You may find one of these background colors more comfortable on your eyes while you are reading.
When you begin reading, a new slider appears on the screen, just under the reading panel. This slider can be moved left or right while the program is paused or stopped in order to change which part of your text to begin on. This is useful if you lose focus and need to "rewind" your text a little bit, or if you want to skip some text.
How to get the most out of SpeeD ReaD
Since the premise of this program is to encourage you to read faster than you can say the words, setting a WPM that works for you is most important. If you find yourself still sounding out the words silently in your head while they flash on the screen, your WPM is set too low. Conversely, if the words have been flashing on the screen but you have no idea what you've just read, your WPM is too fast. Play around with the WPM until you find one that is just right. I tend to read somewhere between 450 and 500 WPM when I use this program. You will also find that as you use the program more and more, you will be able to increase the WPM higher than you could when you first started.
Version 2.1 sees a complete rewrite of the SpeeDReaD program in Python. Among the improvements are such things as:
* A more streamlined, minimalistic interface
* Better-than-ever threading for smooth reading
* A reliable way to import EPUB files for reading
* The ability to choose any font from your system for the reading display
Happy Speed Reading!
Version 1.3 makes better use of threading, streamlines the word display through the use of a TimerTask, and makes some other small improvements in the code.
Ok, so I borked the punctuation pause feature in version 1.3. 1.31 has it fixed.
Version 1.4 makes some major improvements to the way words are flashed on the screen and includes some updates to the GUI, including a reading time display.
The biggest changes in Version 1.5 is adding the ability to change the font face in the reading panel, and adding the ability to import text from an EPUB file. You can do both through the Options Button (looks like a gear). I have not extensively tested the EPUB import feature, so if you run into problems, please let me know in the comments. Other minor improvements in coding and GUI layout were also performed.
Last edit: Jeremy Wilson 2021-03-12
Version 2.1 sees a complete rewrite of the SpeeDReaD program in Python. Among the improvements are such things as:
* A more streamlined, minimalistic interface
* Better-than-ever threading for smooth reading
* A reliable way to import EPUB files for reading
* The ability to choose any font from your system for the reading display