(experimental)

Text Reader Chrome Extension

A Chrome extension that reads text aloud using the Web Speech API. It supports reading text under the mouse cursor on hover and reading from a specific point to the end of the page via right-click context menu.

Features

• Hover Reading: Automatically reads text under your mouse cursor after a short delay
• Right-click Reading: Right-click anywhere on a page to read from that point to the end
• iframe Support: Works with content inside iframes
• Keyboard Control: Press Escape to stop reading at any time
• Multiple Element Support: Works with regular text, form inputs, images (alt text), and links

Installation

1. Open Chrome and navigate to chrome://extensions/
2. Enable "Developer mode" in the top right corner
3. Click "Load unpacked" and select the folder containing these extension files
4. The extension should now appear in your extensions list

Usage

Hover Reading

• Simply hover your mouse over any text on a webpage
• After a brief delay (500ms), the text will be read aloud
• Move your mouse to different text to read different content

Right-click Reading

• Right-click anywhere on a webpage
• Select "Read from here to end of page" from the context menu
• The extension will read all text from that point to the bottom of the page

Stop Reading

• Press the Escape key to stop reading immediately
• Right-click and select "Stop reading" from the context menu
• Click the extension icon and use the "Stop Reading" button in the popup

Files

• manifest.json - Extension configuration and permissions
• content.js - Main functionality for text detection and speech synthesis
• background.js - Context menu management and message handling
• popup.html - Extension popup interface
• popup.js - Popup functionality

Permissions

The extension requires the following permissions:

• activeTab - To interact with the current webpage
• contextMenus - To add right-click menu options
• scripting - To inject the content script
• <all_urls> - To work on all websites
• all_frames: true - To work inside iframes

Browser Support

This extension uses the Web Speech API, which is supported in:

• Chrome (recommended)
• Edge
• Safari (limited support)
• Firefox (limited support)

Troubleshooting

• If speech doesn't work, ensure your system has text-to-speech capabilities enabled
• Check that your browser supports the Web Speech API
• Make sure the extension has permission to run on the current website
• Verify that your system volume is turned up and not muted