Wow, I want to patent 2 + 2 = 4
Show HN: Bionic Reading – Formats text to make it faster to read
131–140 of 281 posts
Re: Show HN: Bionic Reading – Formats text to make it faster to read
#132A small observation: all the "normal" sample text has low contrast with the page background and the kerning seems awfully narrow making it harder, for me at least, to read than normal text. I tried to inspect the text to play with the css but alas, the text is an image and doesn't allow experimentation. I did run it though Chrome's Lighthouse accessibility check and it agreed about the lack of contrast.
Re: Show HN: Bionic Reading – Formats text to make it faster to read
#133I'd like to try this as an option in firefox's reader mode as that's the format in which I read most long texts.
This did on the surface feel like it is a help for me, in particular not so much the reading speed but the 'pull' of the words meant I was less likely to get distracted halfway through a paragraph and tab away. (Yes, I suspect I may have undiagnosed adhd).
Re: Show HN: Bionic Reading – Formats text to make it faster to read
#134This reminds me of BeeLine Reader: https://www.beelinereader.com/
Re: Show HN: Bionic Reading – Formats text to make it faster to read
#135As a non native English speaker, this does not work. Maybe because the part of the brain used to read/write/listen/speak a non native language is not the same as a native language. I really feel that I need to focus more while reading the example paragraph with the bionic stuff. I tried the other examples, but I memorized enough of the text starting the 3rd example that I could not really infer anything. Putting the…
As a native English speaker, I also felt like I had to work harder to read the bionic text.
I am first grade teacher and have taught many children to read. Bionic's principles and algorithm do not match what I understand about the science of reading. This just holds the first part of a word, regardless of what the letters are. I would want an algorithm that is smarter than that (and I certainly wouldn't use bionic in the classroom, regardless!).
Re: Show HN: Bionic Reading – Formats text to make it faster to read
#136Cool, here's a quick hack to try a similar technique with the comments in this thread (copy and paste into dev tools: $$('span.commtext').forEach(span => { const frag = document.createDocumentFragment(); span.textContent.split(/\s+/).forEach(word => { const len = Math.ceil(word.length * 0.3); const leading = document.createElement('strong'); leading.textContent = word.slice(0, len); const trailing = document.createTe…
I made a version which works in all web pages, it is still very hacky though:
function bionifyPage(){
function bionifyWord(word) {
if (word.length == 1) {
return word;
}
var numBold = Math.ceil(word.length * 0.3);
// return "" + word.slice(0, numBold) + "" + + "" + word.slice(numBold) + "";
return "" + word.slice(0, numBold) + "" + "" + word.slice(numBold) + "";
}
function bionifyText(text) {
var res = "";
if (text.length 20){
node.replaceWith(newNode);
}
}
}
else {
for (var child of node.childNodes) {
bionifyNode(child);
}
}
}
bionifyNode(document.body);
}Re: Show HN: Bionic Reading – Formats text to make it faster to read
#137Cool, here's a quick hack to try a similar technique with the comments in this thread (copy and paste into dev tools: $$('span.commtext').forEach(span => { const frag = document.createDocumentFragment(); span.textContent.split(/\s+/).forEach(word => { const len = Math.ceil(word.length * 0.3); const leading = document.createElement('strong'); leading.textContent = word.slice(0, len); const trailing = document.createTe…
I made a version which works in all web pages, it is still very hacky though: function bionifyPage(){ function bionifyWord(word) { if (word.length == 1) { return word; } var numBold = Math.ceil(word.length * 0.3); // return " " + word.slice(0, numBold) + " " + + " " + word.slice(numBold) + " "; return " " + word.slice(0, numBold) + " " + " " + word.slice(numBold) + " "; } function bionifyText(text) { var res = ""; if…
I think yours infringes the patent ;)
Re: Show HN: Bionic Reading – Formats text to make it faster to read
#138Wow, I want to patent 2 + 2 = 4
What's your point? If you are implying the patent is just about ceil(len*0.3) you completely missed the application. In contrast, if you make/invent something new that uses 2+2=4 as an underlying fundamental mechanism, go ahead.
Re: Show HN: Bionic Reading – Formats text to make it faster to read
#139Earlier quoted context omitted.
I made a version which works in all web pages, it is still very hacky though: function bionifyPage(){ function bionifyWord(word) { if (word.length == 1) { return word; } var numBold = Math.ceil(word.length * 0.3); // return " " + word.slice(0, numBold) + " " + + " " + word.slice(numBold) + " "; return " " + word.slice(0, numBold) + " " + " " + word.slice(numBold) + " "; } function bionifyText(text) { var res = ""; if…
I think yours infringes the patent ;)
Alright, I modified it to be like the original comment.
Re: Show HN: Bionic Reading – Formats text to make it faster to read
#140Earlier quoted context omitted.
True. You made me remember a different concept, where words would flash at the same point, but centered around some fixed highlighted character per word. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ky8DP55YEO0 Edit: but thank you for sharing your concept here, very interesting, and I like the discussions it created.
Ironically (given the GP comment) this tech also died because of their aggressive attempt to commercialise it.
I had an iOS speed-reading app at the time and considered integrating their API because users requested it. Not only would they have required individual users to sign in to their API via my app, IIRC their terms allowed them to track what each user was reading. Naturally I declined. I hope OP’s terms of use are more respecting of user privacy.