Bite-sized PD from Innovative Learning: Reading Text

Reading text online can be difficult for all of us, as those little pixels can start to blur together. It can be even more challenging for those of us with dyslexia. Allow me to introduce you to Beeline Reader.

Beeline Reader is an extension for the Chrome browser that uses a color gradient to guide your eyes from the end of one line to the beginning of the next. You can also convert the text to the OpenDyslexic font, which adds weight and angles to letters to make it easier to distinguish between them. You can even use “focus mode,” which dims any unnecessary content on the page, or “clean mode,” which gets rid of the extra content entirely.

• Watch the linked Youtube video, then try Beeline Reader on this page.

Beeline Reader also has a version for use with PDFs or on an iOS device (aka, you can use it with the Kindle app). Now, you only get 5 free reads a day. So my tip is to keep the Beeline Reader extension turned off until you need to use it for a longer read.

• Here’s a video on how to disable Chrome extensions

This is a really helpful extension to share with colleagues, family, friends, and, of course, students! If you LOVE Beeline Reader and want to be able to use it more often, please let me know so I can look into a district license.