Guided Word Anchors

Read faster. Keep your place. Bold reading anchors guide your eyes, and paced WPM auto-scroll helps you build reading speed.

Guided Word Anchors helps you read faster and keep your place while reading on the web. The extension adds bold reading anchors to words on web pages. These visual guide points help your eyes move through text and make it easier to maintain your position while reading. Guided Word Anchors also includes optional paced auto-scroll. Choose a words-per-minute rate and let the page scroll smoothly at a consistent pace while you read. Key features: • Adds bold visual anchors to words on web pages • Helps you follow lines of text and keep your place • Includes optional words-per-minute auto-scroll • Provides adjustable reading and display settings • Can be enabled or paused whenever needed • Works with articles, study materials, long documents, and other readable web pages Guided Word Anchors is designed to provide a simple, customizable reading experience without changing the original meaning or content of the page. Install Guided Word Anchors, open something you have been meaning to read, and find your pace. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Supported by optional affiliate links. During setup, you are asked if you'd like to support us for free. Your choice can easily be changed later in settings. This may earn the developer a commission on qualifying purchases, at no extra cost to you. No ads are added to your page and everything stays local, except the affiliate tag on a relevant URL, Nothing else. This ensures your privacy and an unchanged web surfing experience. The reading-anchor and auto-scroll features work fully whether this option is enabled or disabled. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WHAT GUIDED WORD ANCHORS IS Guided Word Anchors is a Chrome reading aid that bolds the first part of each word on a webpage, creating a short "anchor" for your eyes to land on. Instead of giving every letter equal attention, you let the bold beginnings lead your eyes along the line while your brain fills in the rest of each familiar word. The extension is built for one main purpose: to help you read faster on the web while keeping your place. It pairs the visual anchors with an optional paced auto-scroll that moves the page at a words-per-minute rate you choose. Together, the two tools give you a steady visual rhythm on the line and a steady pace down the page, so you can practice reading at a comfortable speed and then gradually raise it as you improve. Guided Word Anchors only changes how text looks. It never rewrites, removes, summarizes, or rearranges anything on the page. The words, sentences, links, and layout stay exactly where the author put them. You can switch the anchors off at any time, and the page returns to its original appearance. WHY IT MATTERS Much of what we read is on a screen, where lines are long, pages are crowded, and it is easy to lose your place, reread a line, or let your eyes drift. Over a long article or study session, those small slowdowns add up. Guided Word Anchors is designed to reduce that friction in a few ways: • A clear landing point for every word. The bold beginning of each word gives your eyes a predictable target, which can make it easier to move from word to word without hesitating. • Less backtracking. Because the anchors create a visible pattern across each line, it is easier to see where you are and continue from there, instead of hunting for your place after a distraction. • A consistent pace. Paced auto-scroll keeps the text moving at a steady words-per-minute rate. Practicing at a fixed pace can help you avoid slowing down without noticing, and lets you deliberately push your speed a little at a time. • Adjustable to you. Every reader is different. You can change how much of each word is anchored, how heavy the anchors look, whether short common words are left alone, and which colors are used, so the effect feels helpful instead of distracting. It suits students with study materials, professionals with long documents, readers of articles and online fiction, and homeschool families practicing fluency. Results vary from person to person, so try it on the reading you do most and adjust the settings until it feels natural. HOW THE READING ANCHORS WORK When the extension is on, it looks for readable text on the page and bolds the beginning of each word. The amount that is bolded depends on the length of the word: • One-letter words are fully anchored. • Two- and three-letter words get a one-letter anchor. • Four-letter words get a two-letter anchor. • Longer words are anchored according to your anchor ratio setting, and never more than half the word. This keeps anchors short and consistent, so your eyes see a quick cue at the start of each word rather than a wall of bold text. The anchors are designed to fit into the page you are reading: • They keep the page's own text color, so they work on both light and dark websites unless you choose your own colors. • Text that is already bold (headings, emphasized phrases, labels) uses a separate, heavier anchor weight. This way the author's emphasis stays visible and does not disappear into the anchors. • Areas where restyling would get in the way are left alone. The extension skips text boxes, search fields, editable areas, code blocks, preformatted text, keyboard and sample text, scripts, styles, and graphics, so typing, editing, and reading code are not affected. • Hidden text is skipped, and text that loads later, as you scroll or interact, is anchored as it appears. • Large pages stay responsive. Anchors are applied in small batches rather than all at once, so long articles and heavy pages keep loading and scrolling normally. ADJUSTING THE ANCHORS All settings are in the popup that opens from the toolbar icon. Changes apply right away to the page you are reading and your other open tabs. Anchor ratio Controls how much of each longer word is bolded, from 35% to 50%. A lower ratio gives a lighter, subtler look. A higher ratio gives stronger cues. The default is 40%, which many readers find a good balance. If the anchors feel distracting, try lowering the ratio. If you lose your place easily, try raising it. Regular text anchor weight Sets how bold the anchors are on normal text: Semibold, Bold (the default), or Extra bold. Semibold is gentle and works well on pages with small or light fonts. Extra bold gives the strongest contrast. Already bold text anchor weight Sets how bold the anchors are on text that is already bold: At least bold, Extra bold (the default), or Black. This keeps headings and emphasized words distinct from the anchored body text. Leave common short words unchanged When this is on, very common short words such as "a," "an," "and," "of," "to," "in," "is," "it," and "for" are left plain. This gives the page a lighter look and lets the anchors highlight the words that carry the most meaning. Try it if the anchors feel too busy. TURNING ANCHORS ON AND OFF You stay in control of where the anchors appear. The popup has three simple switches: • Enable on websites: turns the anchors on or off everywhere. • Disable on this website: turns them off for every page on the current site while leaving them on everywhere else. • Disable on this page: turns them off for only the page you are viewing. These choices are remembered, which is useful for web apps, email, or any site where you prefer the original look. OPTIONAL TEXT COLORS Color can make the anchors even easier to follow. You can color text in two parts: • Color bolded parts: colors the anchors. • Color regular parts: colors the rest of each word. You can use either one or both. Anything you leave unchecked keeps the page's original color. Colors can be saved at three levels: • This page: colors apply only to the current page. • This website: colors apply to every page on the current site. • All sites (default): colors apply everywhere. When more than one level has saved colors, the most specific one wins: a page setting overrides a website setting, and a website setting overrides the all-sites setting. The popup shows which level is currently in effect, and a live preview shows how your colors will look before you use them. A "Remove colors for this scope" button clears the colors for the selected level and returns that level to normal. PACED AUTO-SCROLL Paced auto-scroll is the speed-training half of Guided Word Anchors. It scrolls by reading pace rather than by pixels: you choose a words-per-minute (WPM) rate, and the extension measures the text on screen and moves the page so new lines arrive at that pace. How it adapts Different pages fit different numbers of words on each line. A narrow column with large text might have six words per line, while a wide page with small text might have fifteen. Auto-scroll measures how many words are on the lines near your reading position and adjusts its speed to match. That means 300 WPM feels like 300 WPM whether you are reading a phone-width blog or a wide document. The settings • WPM: choose any pace from 40 to 1,200 words per minute. • Density average: choose whether the speed is based on the current line only, or averaged over 3, 5, or 7 lines. Averaging over more lines gives smoother, steadier scrolling on pages with uneven text, such as pages that mix paragraphs, short lists, and images. The default is 3 lines. • Reading-line position: choose where on the screen your reading line sits: 35%, 45% (the default), or 55% of the way down. The extension measures text around this line, so set it to where your eyes naturally rest. Works where the text is Some websites scroll the whole page, while others place the main text inside its own scrolling area. Auto-scroll finds the area that actually contains the text you are reading and scrolls that. Easy controls while you read When auto-scroll is running, a small control panel appears in the lower-right corner of the page. It shows your WPM, the measured words per line, and the current scroll speed, along with Pause/Resume and Stop buttons. You can also use the keyboard: • Space pauses or resumes. • Escape stops auto-scroll. Auto-scroll also gets out of your way the moment you take over. If you scroll with the mouse wheel or trackpad, swipe on a touch screen, drag the scrollbar, or press the arrow keys, Page Up, Page Down, Home, or End, it pauses automatically. Press Space or click Resume to continue from your new position. Keyboard shortcuts are ignored while you are typing in a text box, so they never interfere with forms or search fields. When you reach the bottom, the panel shows "End of page." HOW TO USE IT TO BUILD READING SPEED You can use Guided Word Anchors simply as a reading aid, with anchors on and auto-scroll off. If your goal is to read faster, this simple routine can help: 1. Find your comfortable pace. Open an article you want to read, turn on auto-scroll, and start at a pace that feels easy, such as 200 to 300 WPM. Adjust it until you can follow along with good understanding. 2. Read with the anchors. Let your eyes move from anchor to anchor along each line. Try not to go back over words you have already passed. If you miss something, pause with Space, reread, and resume. 3. Raise the pace gradually. Once a pace feels comfortable, increase it a little, by around 10 to 25 WPM, and keep reading. Small steps are easier to adjust to than big jumps. 4. Check your understanding. Speed is only helpful if you remember what you read. After a section, take a moment to recall the main points. If comprehension drops, step the pace back down. 5. Tune the anchors. If the anchors feel distracting at higher speeds, lower the anchor ratio or turn on "Leave common short words unchanged." If you lose your place, try a heavier anchor weight or add an anchor color. 6. Practice regularly. Short, regular sessions on real reading material are usually more effective than occasional long ones. A light article may be comfortable at a much higher pace than a dense textbook chapter, so change the WPM to suit each page. GETTING STARTED 1. Add Guided Word Anchors to Chrome. 2. A short welcome screen opens with two quick choices. First, set your starting auto-scroll speed (350 WPM by default). Second, decide whether to support the developer through the optional Amazon feature described below. "Accept All" saves your speed and turns support on. "Accept Selected" saves your speed and turns support on only if you checked its box. You can change both later. 3. Open any article or readable page. The anchors appear automatically. 4. Click the Guided Word Anchors icon in the toolbar to adjust the anchors, colors, and auto-scroll. For easy access, pin the extension from Chrome's Extensions menu (the puzzle-piece icon). 5. To see the welcome screen again at any time, click "Show welcome screen again" at the bottom of the popup. TIPS • Try the defaults (40% ratio, Bold anchors) for a few days before making big changes. The effect often feels more natural after a short adjustment period. • Pair auto-scroll with Chrome's zoom (Ctrl or Cmd with plus or minus) to find a comfortable text size. Auto-scroll adjusts to the new words per line. YOUR PRIVACY Guided Word Anchors is designed to keep your reading private: • Page text is processed only in your browser. It is never stored or sent anywhere. • Your settings, including the sites and pages you have turned off or colored, are kept in Chrome's own extension storage and may sync between your devices if you use Chrome Sync. • There are no accounts, analytics, trackers, ads, or remote code. The only exception is the optional Amazon support feature below. When it is turned on, the affiliate tag added to an amazon.com product page address is seen by Amazon, as with any affiliate link. OPTIONAL AFFILIATE SUPPORT Guided Word Anchors includes an optional affiliate-support feature. During setup, you can choose whether to enable it, and you can change that choice at any time in Settings. When enabled, the extension may add the developer’s affiliate identifier to eligible supported retailer product-page URLs. This may allow the developer to earn a commission on qualifying purchases, at no additional cost to you. No visible advertisements are added, and the reading-anchor and paced auto-scroll features work fully whether affiliate support is enabled or disabled. If you decline, this feature stays off, and every reading feature works exactly the same. Current Affiliate Support: Amazon.com PERMISSIONS, EXPLAINED • Read and change data on websites: needed so the anchors can work on any page you read. • Storage: saves your reading settings and your page and website choices. • Tabs: lets the popup know which page and website you are on, so "Disable on this website/page" and page or website colors apply to the right place. • Alarms: runs a single daily check to prevent excess use of affiliate links. • Declarative Net Request: when you have opted in to affiliate support, adds the affiliate tag on relevant links, so the page loads normally. A FEW THINGS TO KNOW • Guided Word Anchors works on regular webpages. Chrome does not allow extensions to run on Chrome's own pages (such as Settings or the Chrome Web Store), and the anchors cannot change text inside images, videos, or canvas-drawn content. • PDFs opened in Chrome's built-in PDF viewer are not restyled. • Anchors are designed for languages written with Latin letters, including accented letters. • Some web apps redraw their text constantly. If a site looks or behaves unusually with anchors on, use "Disable on this website." Install Guided Word Anchors, open something you have been meaning to read, and find your pace.