Read Easy

Created Read Easy, a Chrome extension enhancing online reading for dyslexia, increasing productivity by 36%. Available in the Chrome Web Store.

For a reader with dyslexia, the web is quietly hostile. Cramped lines, glaring white backgrounds, and typefaces where a b and a d look like mirror twins all add up to real fatigue and lost comprehension. Read Easy is a Chrome extension that reshapes any webpage into something far kinder to read, letting the reader bend the page to fit their eyes rather than straining to fit the page. Born at an accessibility hackathon (DubHacks 2024), it was built to reduce cognitive load and reading fatigue, and in testing it lifted reading productivity by 36%. ### Type that is easier to read At its heart Read Easy uses OpenDyslexic fonts, typefaces specifically designed with weighted, heavier bottoms so letters feel anchored and are far less likely to flip or rotate in the reader's perception. That small design trick meaningfully cuts the visual confusion that trips up dyslexic readers. Beyond the six OpenDyslexic variants, users can choose from over 200 fonts, including a wide selection from Google Fonts, so everyone can land on the shape that reads most comfortably for them. ### Tune the whole page Everything is adjustable from a control panel that lives in the browser toolbar, with changes previewed instantly, no reload required. Sliders let you dial in font size, letter spacing, line spacing, and word spacing to break up crowding, while color themes, dark mode, and color inversion tame harsh contrast. A soft background overlay tints the reading area to cut glare, an on-screen ruler helps the eye track a single line at a time, and a layout cleanup option strips away menus, ads, and clutter so only the actual text remains. A one-tap reset always brings the page back to normal. ### Listen as well as read Read Easy is not limited to the visual. Its built-in text-to-speech, powered by the browser's SpeechSynthesis API, reads content aloud so users can hear and see the words at once. Pairing visual adjustment with audio makes it useful not only for dyslexia but also for people with ADHD or other learning differences, and for anyone who simply absorbs more by listening. ### Private, local, and open Everything runs locally inside your browser, so there are no external servers and no tracking, and your reading stays entirely your own. Read Easy is open source under the Apache-2.0 License, available on GitHub and the Chrome Web Store, with notes for side loading and Firefox compatibility. Its biggest influence was the OpenDyslexic Project, whose open fonts made the whole thing possible. More than a tool, it reflects a simple belief in inclusive design: technology should adapt to the person, not the other way around, and a small, well-made extension can genuinely help people read with more confidence and less strain.

At a glance

Timeline: Jan 2024 - Sep 2024
Type: Hackathon Project
Event: DubHacks 2024
Impact: Increased productivity by 36%

Technologies

JavaScript
HTML
CSS
Chrome Extension (Manifest V3)
Chrome Extension API
Web Speech API (SpeechSynthesis)
OpenDyslexic Fonts
Google Fonts Integration
Accessibility & Text Processing

Links

Machine-readable version of this page: https://www.sherwinvishesh.com/project/read-easy.md | site index: https://www.sherwinvishesh.com/llms.txt