ranger
a5819f0c72
After v1.1.1 raised the WPM cap to 3000 for Sentence and Paragraph modes, David noticed pushing the slider from 1500 to 3000 didn't actually speed up reading. The chunks still sat on screen for the same amount of time. Root cause: the v1.1.0 minimum-display floor was 1500ms per chunk. At 3000 WPM, any sentence under ~60 words mathematically wants to display for under 1500ms — but the floor clamped them all to 1500ms, so the calculated speed-up never reached the user. Lowered floors: - Sentence mode: 1500ms → 400ms - Paragraph mode: 1500ms → 800ms Max cap stays at 12s for very long paragraphs at very low WPM. At 3000 WPM with the new floors, a 20-word sentence now displays for 500ms (was 1500ms, 3x faster) and the slider behaves the way users expect — higher WPM = faster reading, all the way to 3000. The reader does NOT iterate word-by-word inside a chunk; the whole sentence/paragraph is rendered in one DOM update. Word count is used only to estimate the auto-advance interval, not as a per-word loop.
◈ Ranger Reader
A lightweight RSVP reader for academic papers and long-form text — single HTML file, no install, no subscription, no cloud, runs offline in any browser.
Built to handle the volume of reading required by a research thesis without paying the $120/year for SwiftRead or similar tools. Released here so others can do the same.
What it does
Three reading modes for the same text:
| Mode | What it does | Best for |
|---|---|---|
Word (key 1) |
Classic RSVP — one word at a time at a chosen WPM, with ORP (Optimal Recognition Point) focal-character colouring | Fast skim, the "I'm reading at 4× normal speed" experience |
Sentence (key 2) |
One full sentence at a time, auto-advancing based on word count | Comprehension-grade reading of methods and results sections |
Paragraph (key 3) |
One paragraph at a time, longer display | Preview / postview stages, skim for quotes |
How to use
- Open
ranger-reader.htmlin any modern browser (double-click works) - Paste text into the textarea at the bottom, or drag any
.txtfile onto the page - Press the spacebar or click ▶ Play
- Tap
1/2/3to switch between Word / Sentence / Paragraph modes - Slide WPM up or down to taste (default 500, range 200–1500)
Text, WPM, mode, and reading position all auto-save in your browser — close the tab, reopen tomorrow, resume where you stopped.
Keyboard shortcuts
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
Space |
Play / pause |
← / → |
Skip back / forward (10 in Word mode, 1 in chunk modes) |
1 / 2 / 3 |
Switch to Word / Sentence / Paragraph mode |
+ / − |
Adjust WPM by 50 |
R |
Reset to start |
Converting PDF papers
The reader takes plain text. To convert academic PDFs:
# macOS / Linux — install poppler-utils first (e.g. brew install poppler)
pdftotext input.pdf output.txt
Then drag the .txt file onto the reader page.
What it doesn't do (yet)
- A built-in file library — paste or drag, one paper at a time
- Per-paper bookmarks — single position memory
- Background sound / brown noise — planned for v1.2
- Browser extension packaging — planned for v2.0
- Multi-language ORP heuristics — currently tuned for English
Why RSVP works
RSVP (Rapid Serial Visual Presentation) shows words sequentially at a fixed location, eliminating the eye saccades that normal reading requires. For many readers — particularly dyslexic readers — this:
- Reduces visual-tracking effort
- Eliminates letter-reversal confusion (words don't sit next to each other)
- Enforces consistent pacing (no getting lost in a paragraph)
- Allows comfortable reading at speeds well above normal saccading limits
Brain comprehension is the real ceiling, not eye movement. RSVP lets you read closer to that ceiling.
Caveats
For academic citation work, use Sentence or Word mode in combination with the source PDF — RSVP is excellent for prose but cannot render tables, figures, or equations. The published recommended workflow:
- First pass via Sprint / RSVP at high WPM to get the paper's shape
- Second pass in the source PDF for the Methods, Results, tables and figures
- Capture exact quotes with page numbers from the PDF, not the RSVP stream
The abstract is an advert — don't cite it. Read the Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion. The meat is in the middle.
License
GPL v2 or later. See LICENSE.
Acknowledgements
Built as a study tool during an MSc thesis on accessibility-focused authentication research. Released as free software because reading subscriptions are a tax on poor researchers and accessibility tools should not be paywalled.