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Squirt.io – Readability Meets Spritz Speed Reading

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Re: Squirt.io – Readability Meets Spritz Speed Reading

#141

Post by X4 »

nilkn wrote: post #16
ghc wrote: post #12

I've never thought much about my reading speed before, but after trying this and finding the deafault setting a bit slow, I decided to compare my natural reading speed. I was able to read the article I chose in about 85% of the time of the default 400WPM of the bookmarklet (I read the article first with a timer, and then reread with the bookmarklet), which would put me at 470WPM. With Squirt, I was only able to get u…

> I wonder if people really read one word at a time They don't. I always thought the whole point of speed reading was to ingest multiple words simultaneously. These speed reading tools should be extended so that they can show multiple words at once rather than one word at a time. A really ambitious improvement would be to automatically recognize very common phrases and constructions and to make an effort to always sh…

Totally right!! I trained myself to read two lines at once, but a tool that takes the burden of putting the pieces of the sentences together in the mind would be very very welcome! It could display two words ontop of each other that would otherwise be next to each other.

UX shows that this is the most digestable way to consume information. Going vertical should be preferred over going horizontal.

Please please somebody, would you give nilkn's idea an ear?

Re: Squirt.io – Readability Meets Spritz Speed Reading

#142

Post by X4 »

encoderer wrote: post #126
Mizza wrote: post #82

I'll also shamelessly plug my open source implementation, OpenSpritz, which now has a healthy and vibrant community! https://github.com/Miserlou/OpenSpritz as well as the Android / Google Glass companion: https://github.com/OnlyInAmerica/OpenSpritz-Android

Your bookmarklet never worked right for me. It wouldn't start. I'd select WPM and.. nothing. On latest chrome. Just FYI.

same here, with Firefox.

Re: Squirt.io – Readability Meets Spritz Speed Reading

#144

Post by X4 »

benrhughes wrote: post #119
nilkn wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I wonder if people really read one word at a time They don't. I always thought the whole point of speed reading was to ingest multiple words simultaneously. These speed reading tools should be extended so that they can show multiple words at once rather than one word at a time. A really ambitious improvement would be to automatically recognize very common phrases and constructions and to make an effort to always sh…

For me it depends on the content and my mood. With my app [0] I read at about 5-600wpm, whether it's 1, 2 or 3 words at a time. If I'm having trouble with a particular article, changing the number of words often fixes it. Though of course, for some content, I need to drop the WPM (esp when there's a lot of technical and/or unfamiliar terms). [0] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hughesoft....

Good point! The tool should create a reading difficulty score and only offer selecting wpm, if it's beneficial.

Readability tests:

    * Accelerated Reader ATOS
    * Automated Readability Index (ARI)
    * Coleman-Liau Index
    * Dale-Chall Readability Formula
    * Flesch-Kincaid readability tests:
        * Flesch Reading Ease
        * Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level
    * Fry Readability Formula
    * Gunning-Fog Index
    * Lexile Framework for Reading
    * Linsear Write
    * LIX
    * Raygor Estimate Graph
    * SMOG (Simple Measure Of Gobbledygook)
    * Spache Readability Formula
Tool: https://readability-score.com/ Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Readability_test#Readability_te...

Re: Squirt.io – Readability Meets Spritz Speed Reading

#146

Post by bra1n »

aroemers wrote: post #63
ermintrude wrote: post #9

Why does each user need to be given an ID? How private is this?

It uses keen.io for analytics, and it might even store the URL you're visiting. You'd better not use this if you're concerned about your privacy: https://github.com/cameron/squirt/blob/gh-pages/js/io.js#L65...

In fact, it tracks whenever you use it and sends the URL along with all GET parameters of the page that you are browsing, including the referrer(!), your user agent and your IP to Keen.io: https://github.com/cameron/squirt/blob/gh-pages/bm/squirt.js...

Re: Squirt.io – Readability Meets Spritz Speed Reading

#148

Post by nmodu »

nashequilibrium wrote: post #121
andrewflnr wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Spritz is supposed to improve comprehension too. That's how it was pitched in the original article I read.

How is it going to that, serious question?

You practice, thats how. You practice eliminating subvocalization and regression. You practice focusing on multiple words at a time rather than a single word. And - once you get a hang of those skills- you practice moving your eyes across a page at a faster pace.

I have been practicing for a little under a year with the help of a speed reading app (not Spritz). It was frustrating at first; I won't pretend that I internalized even 50% of what I was reading when I started learning how to speed read. But as my eyes assimilated to reading larger chunks of words at faster speeds, I incrementally increased the speed of the text. Eventually, I was able to increase my reading speed AND understand what I was reading.

I can't attest to the effectiveness of this specific app, since I have never used it. But when you write "its way more fun & time saving to be able to imagine, drift-away in thought and understand what you are reading...", you suggest that one can only understand (and enjoy) what he is reading by reading the way you do.

Re: Squirt.io – Readability Meets Spritz Speed Reading

#149

Post by ljf »

chrisballinger wrote: post #84
ljf wrote: post #41

Love it, I can't wait for an ePub reader though, got so many books I'd love to fly through, though novels for pleasure I think I'd read normally as I enjoy stopping and rereading passages.

This one has basic ePub support https://github.com/OnlyInAmerica/OpenSpritz-Android

Awesome thanks for that! Brilliant simple app, does just what I wanted.

Re: Squirt.io – Readability Meets Spritz Speed Reading

#150

Post by johnwatson11218 »

I always plug the same site on these threads. www.zapreader.com/reader I use that several times a week to get through lengthy articles. What I really want is something that shows all the text in the background kind of blurred out. The words should still flash on screen but with a keyboard shortcut I can make that disappear and have the word I was on hi lighted. I would like the text in the background to scroll while it is blurred out and I'm speed reading. That way if there is an image or diagram I can quickly shift back to normal reading. Or if I just need to re-read a section. Then using only keystrokes have it resume blasting the words on screen.
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