Google announces a reading mode for Chrome that's unlike any other

[midian182]

What just happened? Those who have been waiting for an official reading mode to come to Chrome can finally celebrate, though it's not what you might expect. As with other browsers' versions of this mode, it's designed to make reading webpages easier by removing all distracting elements, such as videos. But while its rivals' modes convert an entire page, Chrome's reading mode appears in a customizable side panel.

An official reading mode for the Chrome desktop browser and ChromeOS was one of several education-focused features Google previewed at BETT 2023. Rather than stripping a page down to its basic text to make it easier to read, Chrome's take is in the form of a customizable sidebar that replicates a copy of the currently viewed page, minus certain elements.

Launching in version 114 for Chrome and ChromeOS, reading mode lets users customize different aspects of the text, including spacing, font size, typeface, and colors. The background colors can also be changed to enable a dark mode that makes reading easier on the eyes. The panel itself can be resized, too.

By making the reading mode a separate panel alongside the original webpage, users will be able to see elements such as videos and images on one side while reading the stripped-down text on the other. And from Google's point of view, it also allows the company to keep serving ads to people while reading mode is activated.

Google writes that it partnered with schools like the Landmark School and nonprofits like Understood.org to design and pilot reading mode and other features, designed to aid the one in five children in the US with a learning and thinking difference like dyslexia and ADHD.

"Reading mode lets users create a customized reading experience. It makes reading more accessible for millions of kids with dyslexia and other learning differences. And it gives parents and educators a powerful tool to support struggling readers," said Nathan Friedman, Co-President at Understood.org.

Other Google announcements at BETT 2023 include the rollout of 13 new Chromebooks with bigger screens, more storage, and longer battery life. Check out our top laptop picks, including the best Chromebooks, right here.

Reading mode will arrive in Chrome 114, set for launch on May 24, 2023.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/98133-google-announces-reading-mode-chrome-unlike-any-other.html

 

[ScottSoapbox]

We’ll help your ADHD by keeping all the distractions and further splitting your focus with a side-by-side display.

Working to help ADs -er- ADHD!

 

[brucek]

Is the helping people with ADHD and dyslexia part real? Can anyone point me to material explaining how this works? I found the official Google announcement but it just states the dyslexia work around as a fact without explaining how text in reading mode will be easier to process than text in regular mode.

 

[Gezzer]

Is the helping people with ADHD and dyslexia part real? Can anyone point me to material explaining how this works? I found the official Google announcement but it just states the dyslexia work around as a fact without explaining how text in reading mode will be easier to process than text in regular mode.

As a dyslexic I'll attmept to answer to the best of my knowledge. It's a processing problem and one aspect of it is how I can't keep myself focused on the words I'm reading. It's like I get lost as I read. In fact I use the mouse cursor and follow it in sequence from word to word in a sentence to keep me focused on what I'm reading. So the more additional distracting information a web page has the harder that becomes.

 

[brucek]

As a dyslexic I'll attmept to answer to the best of my knowledge. It's a processing problem and one aspect of it is how I can't keep myself focused on the words I'm reading. It's like I get lost as I read. In fact I use the mouse cursor and follow it in sequence from word to word in a sentence to keep me focused on what I'm reading. So the more additional distracting information a web page has the harder that becomes.

OK, thanks. I shouldn't be surprised but I was maybe hoping for something more miraculous. Textbooks are already free of clutter (at least compared to a web page) but can also be a source of challenge for dyslexics trying to learn from them, or at least the one in my life. I've heard there are special fonts that can help some people, I thought maybe they had come up with additional hacks that somehow got past whatever interference pattern was going on in the brain.

 

[Gezzer]

It's not so much an interference pattern as it is an area/ability of the brain that is involved with written language, words in general, and even math that doesn't function properly, if at all. As we learn to read we have a couple of areas of the brain that light up in imaging scans. But after a certain point a third area jumps in and pretty much takes over the task leading to a lot of improvements in a person's ability to read. Well, imaging has shown that with dyslexics this area either barely lights up or doesn't at all. So it's more like we're stuck at a beginner's level for reading. We can use strategies to overcome this, but it takes more effort because in the end it's like trying to do something physical with a hand (or both) tied behind your back.

Edited to add: As for the special fonts, I've tried one with limited success. The idea is to reduce the confusion that things like tails add when we read letters. But I've found, at least with computers, that with all the extra capabilities that fonts have built in the special fonts often make things worse. This seems to be because websites and submission forms don't know how to handle them properly.