Reviews for Bionic Reader
Bionic Reader by Rain Jr.
52 reviews
- Rated 2 out of 5by Firefox user 17301858, 2 years agoCompletely breaks some webpages, like Reddit for instance.
Developer response
posted 2 years agoHi,
Please clear browser cache and try again on Reddit.com.
Some websites may not work properly with this extension. You can add them to blacklist and use keyboard shortcuts to enable/disable the extension whenever you want. - Rated 4 out of 5by Saiga, 2 years agoTool is great, but would be much better if you were able to add rules for words of n length or in a length range. I'd personally prefer to have anything 2 or 3 letters or less fully bold, but I can't do that with the current settings and having the tool useful for its intended purpose, so I had to settle for them being skipped.
Developer response
posted 2 years agoHi,
That's a nice suggestion :).
I have added that feature in the latest version (1.6.19+).
You can try it by modifying the value of "Emphasis" options in the extension menu. - Rated 3 out of 5by g1lby, 2 years agoWhile being very helpful if you struggle to focus on text, this addon breaks a lot of pages, including those of almost every AWS product like route53, ec2 and much more.
Took me a long time to find the cause.
Also, I'm using an ANSI 60% keyboard, so I cannot use the shortcuts since I don't have a numpad on there and the shortcuts can't be edited.Developer response
posted 2 years agoHi,
Some websites are very strictly with their content and will break if we modify them. For example:
- Text nodes being used as placeholders for other elements.
- Add other text node if the original text node changed.
- Running background script to check the text content and will break/cause problem if we change even a single character.
So, I do not recommend everyone to turn on this extension for all websites. In earlier version, I turn off these options on default. However, many people don't know how to enable them and report this extension as "not working".
You can try to combine domains, blacklist and shortcuts for better experience. I have updated the description for shortcuts tab. You can use other characters on your keyboard (not limited to numpads), like: ), (, *, =, _ - Rated 5 out of 5by Firefox user 17862970, 2 years agoGreat extension, thanks for sharing it, mind sharing repo so we can watch for new PRs? Thank you
Developer response
posted 2 years agoHi,
I'm not a professional developer and currently have no public repo at all :)! - Rated 5 out of 5by Lethalmikey, 2 years ago
- Rated 3 out of 5by SlyFox1988, 2 years agoI like it overall, unfortunately It crashes my office 365 webmailer on certain emails. Once I turn the addon off, it works fine.
Developer response
posted 2 years agoHi,
I have no access to Office 365 webmail, so that I cannot check for the issue. Maybe, the website does not happy to see the text changed :)! Like Protonmail, If we change the text in some special element, it will stop loading.
I have updated the extension to add keyboard shortcuts for some options. You can try these:
- CTRL+ALT+NUM0: Toggle the OFF button. (Use this to quickly turn the extension ON/OFF).
- CTRL+ALT+NUM9: Toggle the ALL button (apply the extension for all websites).
- CTRL+ALT+NUM8: Toggle the DARK button.
- CTRL+ALT+MINUS: Do not allow the extension to run on current website (add to blacklist).
- CTRL+ALT+PLUS: Allow the extension to run on current website (remove from blacklist). - Rated 4 out of 5by Firefox user 17832691, 2 years agoIts very nice extension but i found a bug which was hard to find and really annoying. When you access facebook site and click see more.. option it autocloses post and u practically can't find it anymore. It happens on every post when you click see more.
For weeks I thought there was some bug in facebook cache and spent lot of time googling but it ended to be an issue with this extension. I added facebook as blacklisted domain and it fixed it. That is sole reason for downgrading my rating. Beside that its nice extension. Also, UI is kinda non intuitive for basic users.
Edit, i just found that there is dark mode support so i will give it 4 instead of 3 because that is niceDeveloper response
posted 2 years agoHi,
Thank for reporting the bug :)! I have added "facebook.com" to the blacklist on default settings in latest version.
After investigating the problem for a while, I have detected that Facebook has a script running on the background and check for content of webpage.
When you click on "See more...", the script will remove "See more..." and add more text. However, because the extension replaces "See more..." with formatted text (something like "See more..."), it is no longer considered as the original element. The script on Facebook will try to remove the formatted text and complain that the text is modified, then trigger an error and remove the post.
Furthermore, I have detected that Facebook has some other scripts running on the background to check for the consistency of the webpage and try to warn user or take action if the webpage is modified too much (in fear of user getting h.a.c.k, may be...).
So, the best solution for this issue is adding Facebook.com to the blacklist, instead of providing a special fix for this case.
As I answered in other comment, this extension is 100% safe. You can easily view the source code by downloading the extension to your PC (XPI file) and then extract like a ZIP file.
(https://superuser.com/questions/771825/how-to-examine-source-code-of-firefox-extension-before-installing-it)
About the dark mode, It is not perfect because I'm using a general algorithm for all websites, instead of adding special fix for any particular one. So, you may see some websites with weird background. I just wish we could access the remote CSS file like before, dark mode will be a lot more easier and accurate, no more looping through all HTML elements to background color. - Rated 1 out of 5by Saengii, 2 years agoThis was great until it caused a code error: Application error: a client-side exception has occurred (see the browser console for more information). I spent hours trying to get my browser to work and after deleting this and disabling it, everything works again. It's a real shame because this actually helped me read academic articles. You broke my Chatgpt, that is an unforgivable act.
Developer response
posted 2 years agoHi,
In case of ChatGPT, it will keep adding new HTML elements when answering your question. The extension will detect these changes and try to apply styling to newly created text. However, ChatGPT (like some other websites, i.e Reddit.com) is very strictly about the content it generated and will break the page if we modify the text too early.
For any similar websites that have issue, you can add them to the blacklist. Click on the extension icon -> Advanced -> pass the full link to "Blacklist Domains" -> Save/Apply. The extension will trip down the link and will save domain name only.
For more control, you can try "ALL", "THIS SITE" and "OFF" buttons in the extension menu.
- ALL: Use the extension for all websites. Use this together with blacklist for websites that you don't want to use the extension.
- THIS SITE: Use the extension for current website only (active tab). Use this if you only want to run the extension for a few websites that you like.
- OFF: Turn off the extension. For lazy people (like me) who don't want to open Add-ons page and then click on On/Off button.
I have updated the extension to blacklist "chat.openai.com" on default in version 1.6.11. - Rated 4 out of 5by Firefox user 17824119, 2 years agoi really like the plugin, it works fine for me on anysites, i cant get it to work on pdfs tho, is that just not an option or is it something i dont know how to activate?
Developer response
posted 2 years agoHi!
Unfortunately, this extension is for HTML only.
Because the text of a PDF document is rendered on a HTML canvas, we cannot simply restyle it like HTML.
I'm thinking about a solution for now and may add something new to support PDF in the future. - Rated 5 out of 5by DylanDerEchte, 2 years ago
- Rated 4 out of 5by cdo, 2 years agoHi! Love the addon, thanks so much for your work in creating and sharing it—has been a huge help.
The addon works pretty efficiently for me, I just have some concerns about permissions—do you have any kind of privacy policy? Granting access to all site data is a big ask, want to make sure nothing is being collected beyond what's necessary for the addon to function. Thanks!Developer response
posted 2 years agoHi, happy to hear that!
About privacy, this extension collects NOTHING at all.
I defined them as follow in the manifest.json:
"permissions":
[
"storage",
"tabs"
]
1. Storage: To save settings of this extension (this may trigger the permission to access all data. However, only settings of this extension is accessed)
2. Tabs: To reload tabs when settings changes (i.e click on Apply button, check URL to blacklist websites,...).
I just follow the tutorial on Mozilla website.
(https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Add-ons/WebExtensions/Implement_a_settings_page)
Furthermore, you can view the source code of this extension to make sure that everything is safe.
(https://superuser.com/questions/771825/how-to-examine-source-code-of-firefox-extension-before-installing-it) - Rated 3 out of 5by Junker, 2 years ago
- Rated 4 out of 5by hey, 2 years agoSorry, but I have to give this a 1 star rating.
Not only does it seem fairly arbitrary when it works and when not (i guess its based on the length? it's super weird when you for example view wikipedia and it completely ignores some shorter paragraphs), but it also breaks certain websites.
this is especially the case when a textarea element is defined with preset text within the body of the textarea element - the extension simply clears the textarea element of its contents in that caseDeveloper response
posted 2 years ago1. It's fine for 1 star or whatever. I made this extension to read books and articals on the internet easier. Just want to share with other people who need it, just like me.
2. You can adjust "Skip Text" and "Skip Words" in the options to your liking. Set them to lowest values will apply styling for all text. Please read the "Help" tab for more information.
If you don't mind, please post links to those websites here, so I can make further investigation.
This extension will simply replace a normal text with a block of text. It will not break any web page, unless there are some scripts running on the background to check the content and modify them again. For example, duckduckgo.com will track your mouse movement and keep replacing the text in the search result if you modify them.
3. I added TEXTAREA to the ignore list in the latest version (1.6.1+). Hope this will fix the issue in your case. - Rated 1 out of 5by Shub, 2 years agoDoesn't work at all. Config seems extensive though, which I'd like... if this extension did anything.
Developer response
posted 2 years ago- You have to click on "ALL" or "THIS SITE" button (on top of the GUI) to enable bionic reading style. I disabled them on default because I don't like the intrusive way of using a new extension.
- Use "DYNAMIC" button to enable dynamic loading of bionic style. This will reduce memory usage by A LOT on web pages with a huge amount of text. However, you may see the text changing as you scroll down or up too fast.
For more information, please read the "Help" tab. - Rated 5 out of 5by fatbluecherry, 2 years ago
- Rated 2 out of 5by JKT, 2 years agoTo others having issues getting it to work: You have to go to the puzzle piece in your upper right corner to reveal the Extensions pulldown. Then go to Bionic and choose "Pin to toolbar". Once you do this, you'll have the controls that the author is asking us to use. Hope this helps others.
As for how well it works, it is incompatible with posting on social media. On both Reddit and Twitter as you type your post, it moves the insertion point back to the beginning of the sentence. This is a deal-breaker for me.Developer response
posted 2 years ago- You have to click on "ALL" or "THIS SITE" button (on top of the GUI) to enable bionic reading style. I disabled them on default because I don't like the intrusive way of using a new extension.
- Use "DYNAMIC" button to enable dynamic loading of bionic style. This will reduce memory usage by A LOT on web pages with a huge amount of text. However, you may see the text changing as you scroll down or up too fast.
For more information, please read the "Help" tab.
Update:
- I have released a new version with bug fix for websites that use "contenteditable" attribute in text editor.
- Thanks for reporting this bug. I have never used this extension outside of reading books and articals... my bad :D! - Rated 5 out of 5by dav, 2 years ago
- Rated 2 out of 5by Firefox user 14374660, 2 years agoWorks well and has a lot of good options but was quite buggy for me(caused reddit to continually refresh) so will probaly come back later to give it another go.
Developer response
posted 2 years agoHi,
I have no issue when browsing Reddit.com with this extension. Thus, I do not know exactly what cause the refreshing in your case.
You can try the following to make sure that there is no conflict with other extensions.
1. Close all tabs.
2. Clear browser's cache completely. (Ctrl+Shift+Delete)
3. Disable other extensions and enable this extension only.
4. Restart your browser and open Reddit again. - Rated 5 out of 5by Firefox user 17649765, 2 years ago
- Rated 5 out of 5by mrtimdog, 2 years ago
- Rated 5 out of 5by Firefox user 15085701, 2 years agoGreat extention. Compared to the oringinal BR app is that it keeps the webpage in tact. It would be gread if this extention can also be made for Chrome.
- Rated 5 out of 5by bunbun, 2 years ago
- Rated 5 out of 5by Firefox user 12679987, 2 years agoAlso recommended by the author of this article: https://www.makeuseof.com/what-is-bionic-reading-why-should-you-use-it/