ReadPal goes a a step further. It is a free for personal use desktop application for the Windows operating system that integrates with Internet Explorer, most text processing programs but can also be used to load text files directly. The program has two main features.

The first provides text formatting and readability options to make the text more accessible and readable to the user. The program supports multiple modes in which the text can be viewed from column over banner to full screen. The initial layout displays the text on a black background with the possibility to change the color scheme in the program’s options.

Some of the view modes will go through all the text continuously so that the user can concentrate on reading the text and not on text controls to scroll the text manually. This is for instance available in the sentence and banner modes. The speed can be changed with the up and down arrow keys or by clicking on the small icon in the lower left corner.

The speed reading program displays a words per minute count in the status bar that can be used as an indicator of the reading speed. It is furthermore possible to change the number of words on the screen from automatic to a user defined value.

Those features alone can be very helpful in increasing the accessibility of textual information in Windows. ReadPal offers an AutoTrim feature which can further increase the reading speed of the user by removing fill words from the text. The default value is a reduction by 20% which can be increased or decreased in the speed reading program’s options.

ReadPal integrates with Internet Explorer and text applications like Word or Notepad in Windows. It displays a ReadPal button in the status bar that when clicked opens the text in the ReadPal software. It should also be noted that the software only supports English texts for now.

The speed reading software ReadPal can be downloaded from the developer’s website. It is free for personal use. A business license costs $39.

Speed Reading is not one method, one way to follow that will lead to a faster reading speed but rather a collection of methods like absorbing connectors or grouping words. The effectiveness of a speed reading technique depends on the relation between the reading rate and the comprehension level. Reading 1000 words a minute but only understanding 10% of the text would not be effective while a comprehension level of 50% or more could very well be.

Speed Read is a speed reading software for Windows that can be downloaded freely from the developer’s website. The speed reading software concentrates on the following four speed reading techniques:

• Reading groups of words instead of single words
• Learning to “absorb” small connector words like “and, the, but, to, etc”.
• Forcing constant attention on subject matter
• User or teacher adjustable rate of speed for word or word group presentation.

The speed reading software can open text documents on the computer and display them in the program interface. It displays one word at a time and 300 words per minute by default. Those variables can be changed in the same interface. It provides the option to display more than one word at a time, increase or decrease the words per minute parameter and display only words with a minimum lengths of x characters.

A viable alternative to Speed Read is the only service Zap Reader which feels like a basic online version of Speed Read. Users can paste text into Zap Reader which displays one word at a time at the default speed of 300 words per minute. The speed and the word limit can be changed as well but it does not come with the additional functionality of Speed Read.

Shortly before pressing the publish button in WordPress a popup appeared in Speed Read telling me that the speed reading program was shareware with the options to register or to close. Pressing close would close the complete application which could be opened again without troubles. Still, the homepage is stating it is freeware. I suggest you stick with Zap Reader which provides most of the features as well.

Do you know of any alternative speed reading software programs that are open source or freeware?