speedreading with derrick - simple speed reading application project

It is a little known fact that one of the reasons that Derrick solved so many crimes was that he was a fabulous speed-reader. Like his sidekick Harry, I was duly impressed with this skill. I wanted it too.

So I read books and took courses on speedreading. Found out that really (no offence, D) it really isn't that hard. The thing is, that when you read a line of text, your eyes skip over it. So they stop, look at a word, skip a little further, read the next word, etc. It is very clearly illustrated by this little drawing below:

The way to improve your reading is to make those little skips a little bigger. Your eyes can easily read more than one word at a time, no problem. Then you must develop a little rythm, a groove. One second a line, for example, or two seconds if you're just a beginner. Don't worry, we all once were beginners, except for Derrick of course. He was born ready.

Once you get the hang of this (and believe me, you will too), you can speedread a book. A book! Who reads books these days! You just spent hours and hours of your precious life on learning a skill which is useless these days. What we need is speedreading on a computer screen!

Try speedreading on your computer screen, it won't work. It will hurt your eyes, make you go blind and hair will grow on your handpalms. Believe me, I've been there. The problem is that the lines are too long, they're too far away, it's just too hard for your eyes.

So that's where this little project steps in. I wanted to create a little computer program which would make text scroll over your screen, in a nice readable font, skipping in parts trough the text just big enough to read all - and fast enough to read really, really fast.

So I created a little application which actually does this, a bit. There's many room for improvement, but it works. What Derrick, Harry and me now need is feedback from the world. So why don't you download it, mess around with it and let us know what you think about it.

Paste your text into the upper window. Press go, and slowly your text will start scrolling in the textbar below. Slide the lowest slider to the left to increase the speed. The other slider can be used to scroll trough the text quickly. Press pause to pause, quit to quit.

DISCLAIMER: This page, nor the author, nor the application is in any way affilliated with Derrick. All claims made about his speedreading skills are completely fictional. Any jokes made about Harry were unintentional. If the application sets your house on fire, makes your tummy ache, dates your dog or makes your favorite socks go missing, the author cannot be held responsible or liable. Come to think of it, he cannot be held responsible or liable for anything. If you feel any of the presented material is copyrighted (like, for example, this sexy picture of Derrick in the banner), then please let me know. Don't make a fuss, I'll just remove it. Jeez, I'm not clubbing baby seals here or anything.