A Chrome extension for faster reading
Read faster.
Keep your place.
Guided Word Anchors is built to help you build reading speed. It bolds the first part of each word so your eyes can move from anchor to anchor, and its paced auto-scroll lets you practice at a words-per-minute target you can raise as you improve.
- Paced WPM practice
- No accounts
- No trackers or ads
Turn the page
See it on a real paragraph
These are the same settings you’ll find in the extension popup. Adjust them and notice how quickly your eyes can move through the passage.
Chapter One
How Birds Find Their Way
Every autumn, millions of birds leave their summer homes and travel thousands of miles to warmer places. Many of them make the journey alone, at night, without ever having flown the route before.
One answer is the sun. Birds can sense the position of the sun in the sky and adjust for the time of day using an internal clock. On clear nights, many songbirds use the stars instead, learning the pattern of stars that rotate around the North Star while they are still young.
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What’s inside
Three tools for faster, steadier reading
Guided reading anchors
A bold beginning on each word gives your eyes somewhere to land, so you can move along the line faster without losing your place.
- Adjustable anchor ratio for longer words
- Separate weights for regular and already-bold text, so emphasis stays visible
- Turn anchors off everywhere, on one website or on one page with a single click
- Keeps each page’s own text color on light and dark pages
- Applied in small batches, so large pages keep loading normally
Optional text colors
Color the anchored parts, the regular parts or both. A live preview shows your choice before you use it.
- Save colors for one page, one website or all sites
- The most specific setting wins: page, then website, then all sites
- Unchecked parts keep the page’s original color
Paced auto-scroll for speed practice
Set a words-per-minute target and the page moves at that pace, adjusted for how dense the text is. Start where reading feels comfortable, then raise the pace a little at a time as you get faster.
- Anywhere from 40 to 1,200 words per minute
- Adjusts to text density over 1, 3, 5 or 7 lines
- Choose where your reading line sits on the screen
- Space pauses or resumes, Esc stops, and scrolling yourself pauses it
A note on privacy
Your reading stays on your shelf
Guided Word Anchors doesn’t send your data anywhere. Page text is processed only in your browser, and your settings live in Chrome’s own extension storage.
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Processed locally
Text is restyled right on the page you’re reading. It’s never stored or sent.
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No analytics, trackers or ads
No accounts, no remote code and nothing quietly watching what you read.
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Optional, honest support
On the welcome screen you can choose to support the developer. If you accept, amazon.com product pages get the developer’s Amazon Associates tag. It’s used at most once a day, never two days in a row and no more than three days a week. It never replaces another tag, and you can turn it off anytime in the popup.
Getting started
Ready in a minute
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1
Add it to Chrome
Install Guided Word Anchors from the Chrome Web Store.
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2
Make two quick choices
A short welcome screen asks for your auto-scroll speed and whether you’d like to support the developer.
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3
Read, then pick up the pace
Anchors appear on every page. Turn on auto-scroll from the toolbar popup and raise your WPM as reading gets easier.
