Reading view and reading aloud in Microsoft Edge
Microsoft Edge is a browser or Internet browser designed to view web pages and other information on the World Wide Web. Microsoft Edge as part of the Windows 10 operating system is the default browser.
Initially, the Microsoft Edge browser ran on the EdgeHTML engine, but then Microsoft switched it to Chromium, the engine is Blink. Therefore, Chromium-based Microsoft Edge is in many ways similar to the Google Chrome browser.
At the same time, the Edge browser has its own characteristics, in particular, it is more optimized to work on the Windows operating system. Microsoft Edge replaces Internet Explorer as the web browser on corporate operating systems.
The Internet browser has ample opportunities for using this application for application purposes. The main duty of a browser is to correctly display web pages on sites on the Internet, preferably in a view that is comfortable for viewing.
One of the ways to increase productivity in the browser is the so-called “reading mode”. Reading mode has already been implemented in many popular browsers: Mozilla Firefox, Yandex Browser, Safari.
Microsoft Edge Reader Mode is an immersive reader that presents site content in the most user-friendly way possible, without distracting the user from reading the web page.
On the pages of most sites on the Internet, in addition to the main content – the content of an article or a note, there are quite a few other elements: animation, advertising, various blocks of attention, etc. Often these elements distract or make it difficult to read the text on the pages of the site.
To solve this problem, the developers have implemented a reading mode in the Edge browser. This feature removes all extraneous elements from the page and displays the main content of the web page in an easy-to-read way.
If the Internet is used for education or training, then the material read in reading mode is better absorbed, the user is completely immersed in the process, nothing distracts him. This feature is useful for visually impaired people or those who proofread large amounts of text. Nothing prevents any user of the Microsoft Edge browser from using this mode.
In the instructions in this article, we’ll look at how to enable and use Edge’s reading mode, as well as the ability to read text aloud on any page on the Internet during normal browsing.
How to enable reading mode in Microsoft Edge
The Microsoft Edge browser has built-in tools that allow you to use accessibility features according to the user’s needs.
Please note that reading mode does not work on all web pages on the Internet. It is not on the main pages of search engines, portals or services. And this is logical, because on such pages there is no content for reading, there are mainly various links to other resource pages, article announcements, and other interactive elements.
Do the following:
- Open the site page in the Microsoft Edge browser.
- Click the Sign In to Immersive Reader icon located on the right side of the address bar with your mouse cursor, or press the F9 key.
- Reading view opens on top of the web page content, removing all elements from the page except text content.
Reading view settings in Microsoft Edge
When viewing a web page in a convenient way, a control panel with settings for this mode is displayed under the address bar.
The panel contains buttons for controlling the functions of the reading mode:
- Read aloud – Starts speech playback of text.
- Text options – select text size, spacing, page themes.
- Means of grammar – splitting words into syllables, underlining parts of speech.
- Reading options – use line focus, illustrated dictionary, translator.
Let’s look at these features in more detail.
Read aloud in Microsoft Edge
Immediately after clicking on the “Read aloud” button, the test content of the site page will be read using the built-in voice engine. This tool converts text to speech by reading it in one of the supported languages using a narrator.
While the voice engine is running, the spoken word is highlighted in the text and the rest of the page content is dimmed.
In the central part of the panel there are buttons for playback control. You can pause reading aloud, move forward or backward through the text.
To change the settings for the reading function, click on the “Reading Options” button.
Here you can choose the reading speed: normal, low or high, as well as select a voice.
To select a voice engine, click on the field with the selected voice with the mouse pointer. Select the appropriate voice from the drop-down menu. Two female voices are available for the Russian language in the Edge browser: Microsoft Darya (“Daria” or “Daria”), Microsoft Irina (“Irina”), and one male voice – Microsoft Pavel (“Pavel”).
Reading mode is good in that you can save your eyesight while listening to the text being spoken, or doing other things, while listening to the speech performed by the announcer in the background.
Microsoft Edge text options
Click on the “Text Options” button to change the display settings.
In the text options, you can change the text size to small, medium, or large. For readability, include wide spacing between words.
Choose an appropriate page theme. Click the “More Themes” link to see more options that you can use in Reading View.
The default is sepia, a gray-brown color that mimics the page of an open book.
Grammar Tools in Microsoft Edge
Immersive Reader has a Grammar Tools tool. With this tool, you can break words into syllables, highlight parts of speech. This feature is helpful when Edge is using Reading Mode for educational purposes.
Turn on the switch to the active mode opposite “Syllabic” to break the entire text into syllables.
You can separate parts of speech or use the syllable mode. Highlight all or individual parts of speech (nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs) that are marked with a certain color. You can change the default parts of speech color to your liking.
If you activate the “Show tags” option, tags will be displayed above the words, explaining which part of speech a particular word belongs to.
In this image, you see an example of text display with all the grammar mode settings items enabled.
Reading options in Microsoft Edge
The user can change some of the reading options at his discretion.
The Line Focus option allows you to focus on one line, three lines, or five lines. The rest of the text will be darkened at this time. Move between lines in focus using the mouse wheel.
The Picture Dictionary tool shows pictures that match a specific word. When the mouse pointer takes the form of a star when hovering over a word, click the left mouse button, a window with the image of this concept will open above the word.
The Translate function allows you to translate text into another language. Activate the “Translate entire page” item, and then select the desired language.
Reading aloud on the pages of sites opened in normal mode
In the Microsoft Edge browser, you can use the text-to-speech feature on website pages in normal view, not in read-only view. Read aloud works on web pages, PDF documents open in the browser, or EPUB books.
Go through the steps:
- Right-click an empty space on a website or page in an open document.
- In the context menu, click on the “Read aloud” item.
The reading function is called from the browser settings menu (three dots) or using the hot keys “Ctrl” + “Shift” “U”.
- Immediately after that, reading this web page in Microsoft Edge will begin.
A settings panel will appear at the top of the browser window.
With the playback buttons, you can pause or restart reading, go back, or skip to the next paragraph. In the voice options, you can select the voice of the announcer or change the reading speed.
You can listen aloud to the contents of a single selected piece of text. You can do this in the following way:
- Highlight a section of text on a page.
- In the context menu, select “Read selected passage aloud” or press the keys “Ctrl” + “Shift” + “U”.
Read Aloud in Microsoft Edge Hotkeys
The user can control reading options in the Microsoft Edge browser using the keyboard shortcuts shown in this table.
| Keys | Actions to take |
|---|---|
| F9 | Turn immersive reader on or off |
| Ctrl+Shift+U | Start or stop reading text |
Article Conclusions
While browsing the web, users may not always be able to concentrate on reading the content due to the various elements of the site. The Microsoft Edge browser has a built-in immersive reader feature that allows you to remove all unnecessary elements from the page.
In the reading mode, the functions of voicing the text, changing the text display parameters are available, there is a grammar tool. The browser has a built-in tool that allows you to start reading aloud in normal web browsing.
