ShiftReader - Speed Read the Web

Speed read webpages while learning how to speed read anything.

Total ratings for ShiftReader - Speed Read the Web

4.22 (Rating count: 23)

User reviews summary

These summaries are automatically generated weekly using AI based on recent user reviews. Chrome Web Store does not verify user reviews, so some user reviews may be inaccurate, spammy, or outdated.

Pros

ShiftReader helps improve reading speed and maintains context by keeping the page layout, text structure, pictures and videos.
The extension has many options and settings which users can modify according to their preference.
The developer of the extension is responsive and supportive, particularly in addressing bugs.

Cons

Some users reported technical issues, such as the page freezing and having to restart it.
ShiftReader requires account creation, which some users find unnecessary and suspicious in terms of data safety.
The extension does not support RTL and certain languages like Mandarin, which does not separate words with spaces.

Most mentioned

The extension was praised for retaining the overall context of the reading material unlike other speed reading tools.
Requiring users to create an account to use the extension was a commonly raised concern.
Technical glitches and support for more languages were also frequently mentioned issues.

See reviews for ShiftReader - Speed Read the Web on Chrome Web Store

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Recent reviews for ShiftReader - Speed Read the Web

Recent rating average: 3.60

All time rating average: 4.22

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Rating filters

5 star

16% (3)

Date	Author	Comment
2023-05-06	Beldades Word	muito bom! recomendo
2023-03-03	London McDougal	Doesn't work. Tried using ALT + S on a PDF and got an error message. I was asked to highlight the text and right click in order to use Shiftreader. The text was several pages but I wanted to test it with just a paragraph. After highlighting and right clicking the page just froze in place(but not frozen since I could still right click and type in the browser) forcing me to restart the page and try again. I wasted probably ten minutes trying to make this work when I could have been reading.
2022-03-04	Dorian	It says that you have to create an account so it can save settings and statistics. That is BS, because those can be saved in chrome sync storage, and maybe I don't care about them. It should say that it wants you register so it can track you, and potentially leak your data a few years from now.
2021-06-04	Matthew Bennett-Lovesey	Requires you to register, under the guise of needing a login to save your settings. Blatant lies aside, you shouldn't need to send data to anyone.
2020-12-28	Daun Ozuna	This extension behaves like my favorite speed reading solution "eyercise," and because it allows chunking per fixation point actually improves one's reading ability in general over that lousy rsvp method which will eventually lead to depth-perception issues (a _common_ outcome of staring at screens for hours). Morbid fact: The average person will spend 44 years of their life staring at screens. My personal favorite setup is green highlight color, dark red highlight background, and dark blue page text. Once the highlight background begins to fade, the previously marked text appears black until retinal rods and cones re-adapt. To the dev: Reason for 4 stars: I think the suggested donation is way too high. Feature request: 1. glowing text using webkit opacity transition effect. 2. keep highlight line at the top level (autoscroll for persistent top line). Thank you so much.
2020-09-02	Piyush Kumar	I am a doctor from India and I'd like to share my feedback. It's not a magic bullet, but since a lot of the reading material are PDFs, ePubs, other online resources, I found that using shiftreader very helpful. It is a digital equivalent to a finger that you use to guide your eyes on a printed book. So reading complex and lengthy material doesn't feel intimidating because you are now going slowly word by word until it comes to an end. You just don't feel the pressure. And yes, for my first time with a difficult material (kaplan qbank for usmle), I go through slowly around 100 to 150 words per minute to go over the explanations. And no, I don't read non stop from first line to last line. I jump around up and down. Pause a lot. to digest the more complex concepts. After my first read, I do it again a second timej at a higher speed 200 to 250. I also print out the material I am using, because nothing, i mean nothing can replace a good old printed copy. Because looking at the screen for long is also not productive. Reading printed material has been associated with better retention as opposed to reading online. So perhaps find a balance between the best of both worlds. I for one. The rules to successful learning still apply. So I recommend going through Make it stick : the rules of successful learning. I'll have to keep this short. I'm sure many others will find more creative ways to use this wonderful tool. Give it a try. I finally caved in and got a premium subscription because it remembers my reading history. So I just like to keep a check on what I have read. So if I want to go back to an article I read on medium a few months ago, I can refresh my memory. And if there are any bugs, the developer is very supportive and irons out whatever bumps there are along the way. it still needs a little feature that allows you to switch to night or day mode. Looking at a bright screen for long gets tiring. and makes you unproductive. So the ability to easily switch between night and day mode as in spreed would be really helpful. As a work around I am using Dark reader chrome extension.
2020-07-09	Pan Paweł	The one speed reading extension that actually works. It helps to form habits that carry over to real-life reading and allows you to read with all the context (page layout, text structure, pictures and video clips) still available, unlike almost all typical rapid visualization readers. Very kind and responsive developer, lots of options.
2020-04-16	Clark Pearson	This is the best speed reading tool for browsers! My only wish is that it could read Kindle Cloud Reader books. Thanks!
2020-04-16	Ali E.	Excellent app! Would go premium if RTL support is added.
2020-04-16	Osaka	I would say it is a fantastic way of reading. I am still getting my head around it in terms of speed and word chunks, but it is really good overall

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