ReadPal is a Microsoft Word document, text files, email and HTML page reading application for Windows that provides a pleasurable reading experience for the user. ReadPal reminds me of the Readability, a bookmarklet that re-formats the text in your browser providing an enjoyable reading experience. ReadPal is to Word and Text documents, what Readbility is to the browser.
ReadPal integrates with Microsoft Word, Notepad, Internet Explorer, Outlook and Outlook Express providing easy access to the reader. Whenever you want read a document more comfortably and with less eye strain, simply click on the ReadPal icon that appears on the title bar. ReadPal will extract the text from the document and display it to you in a format that is both easier and faster to read.
ReadPal has different reading modes that allows you to read comfortably and at a greater speed. You can view text arranged in columns like in newspaper, if you find this format easier to read. Or you can switch to “Banner Reader” where a group of sentences are displayed in a slideshow. The speed of the slideshow as well as the number of words displayed at a time and the formatting can be controlled. There is also a “Sentence Reader” mode where one sentence is displayed at a time. A progress bar at the bottom allows you to quickly move forward or backward on the page. ReadPal also has a full screen viewing mode.
ReadPal also has an unusual feature called AutoSkim that removes unnecessary words from the document like “a”, “the”, “is” etc thereby allowing you to quickly skim through the document in record time. AutoSkim is very useful in revising or reviewing text when time is short, for example before an exam.
The AutoSkim can be adjusted in percentage of words removed. Usually removing up to 30% of words still leaves enough words on the document to make it comprehensible. Removing 50% of words, however, makes the document difficult to read.
ReadPal is fine program but it could have been better had it supported more reading formats like PDF and ePUB.
Kaushik,
ReplyDeleteReadpal is not supported in FF and Chrome browsers. It works only in IE. Also it displays documents and web pages in English only correctly. I get scrambles only with ?? and !! all over the document when I tested a few Indian languages documents