This isn't a particularly good idea for competent readers who typically scan entire blocks of sentences at a time. The scrolling effect just slows them down.
That was pretty painful to read. I'm a relatively slow reader, and that - when coupled with some other distractions around me - meant that I got behind the text crawl at times. When a picture would appear, and most of the text would get quickly pushed off screen, I would have to scroll up and try to catch what I missed while the page struggled to push me back down to the newest words.
Eventually I just gave up and let it finish before reading. It would be nice if the page could detect when I scroll up and stop writing until I'm ready to resume.
> What makes the technique useless for your reading/browsing experience?
It is entirely a matter of personal preference; I tend to read very quickly, and long complex sentences laden with parentheticals are more enjoyable than obstacular.
For those interested in these kinds of applications, this is an RSVP (rapid serial visual presentation) device. Its chief benefit is most likely forced self-pacing (and thus, forced concentration), but I highly doubt it will assist your comprehension. For one, it is ludicrous to read "the quick red fox jumps over the lazy brown dog" and "scientists discovered more CP-violation than predicted by the standard model" at the same speed. For two, this RSVP method obliterates benefits of peripheral vision. Sure, you can do several words at once, but PV does its job above and below the lines as well. For three, it eliminates any recall aids you might have acquired by the shape of the text (ever think, "what was that word... it was at the left bottom corner of that page"?).
Otherwise, it's an interesting thing. I would play with that kind of stuff, but for experimentation.
I'd be much more interested in a solution that effectively minimizes the text or uses another technique about speed reading (like diagonals, etc).
The reason why I won't be using this service is simply because it makes the eye lazier. My eyes are already lazy enough because I am in front of the computer 12+ hours a day, so my eyes muscles need movement. Staring at one point for long time can also cause side effects like losing the sense of space and time. Staring at one point is often used as hypnotizing during different kind of therapies.
The website is using something called BeeLine Reader that's supposed to help people keep their place while reading or read faster. Personally, I find it makes text more difficult to read, but some people like it.
More basic than that, it also forces you to physically move away from the function in order to continue reading. It would be like turning to a different page in order to read the middle part of a paragraph.
I fail to see how this helps to "avoid being stuck," in fact it seems more likely to result in you sitting looking blankly at half a page somewhere in the middle of the day.
Totally agree, super annoying. I will highlight and re-highlight a paragraph over and over as I read through it. I'm not sure why I do it, maybe it's my impulse to go faster that I can satisfy by moving my cursor rather than reading more rapidly.
maybe it's just me but I feel like I have a stutter thought when I read using that. It's just doesnt feel right; I think books/articles reading will be less enjoyable if I'd have to use it.
So you’re saying you scroll while you read, and it's a noticeable advantage than when you hit the bottom your reading is slightly easier because the page didn't move a fraction.
I would have thought if you are already scrolling and reading, the slight decrease in distance when you hit the bottom would be less distracting than a total change in behavior.
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