Bionimate

About

**Speed up your reading on any web page.** Bionimate uses the bionic reading technique — bolding the first few letters of each word — so your eyes lock onto the key parts of text faster, and your brain fills in the rest. Works on articles, docs, Wikipedia, email, and more.

- **Selective formatting** — highlight any text and apply bionic reading to exactly that passage.
- **Element picker** — hover to target a paragraph, heading, list, or table cell; click to format only that element, nothing else.
- **Full-page mode** — reformats all readable content across `<article>`, `<main>`, `<section>`, and body text in one go.
- **Zen reading mode** — opens your selected or picked text as a clean, distraction-free overlay at 95 % screen width, in comfortable typography.
- **Fully reversible** — every change is undone instantly. No page reloads, no data loss.
- **Adjustable strength** — 5 levels of bionic emphasis, from subtle (1 letter bolded) to intense (half the word bolded). Tune to your reading style.
- **Reading size control** — scale text up or down from the toolbar without touching the page's own CSS.
- **Dark-page aware** — automatically switches to a white-text bionic theme on dark-background pages (YouTube, GitHub dark, etc.).
- **Persistent settings** — your strength, size, and collapsed/expanded toolbar state are remembered across tabs.
- **Keyboard accessible** — Escape closes zen mode and cancels element picker; focus states on all controls.
- **Zero data collection** — Bionimate reads nothing, sends nothing, stores nothing outside your own browser.

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## Features at a Glance

| Feature | Details |
|---|---|
| Text selection mode | Format only the words you highlighted |
| Element picker mode | Click any paragraph, heading, or list item |
| Full-page mode | Reformat all readable text in one click |
| Zen overlay | Clutter-free reading sheet at 95 % width |
| Strength slider | 1 – 5 emphasis levels |
| Reading size | 80 % – 180 % scale |
| Dark-page theme | Auto white text on dark backgrounds |
| Live retuning | Change strength and see all existing formatting update instantly |
| Reset / revert | One-click undo of all formatting |
| Collapsible toolbar | Tucks to the right edge; slides out on hover |

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## How to Use

1. Click the **Bionimate** icon in the Chrome toolbar to reveal the side panel on the page.
2. Choose a mode:
   - **Toggle (⊙)** — applies bionic reading to the full page using the last-used mode, or page mode if first use.
   - **Selection (⌖)** — highlight text first, then click to format just that passage.
   - **Picker (⊕)** — click to enter hover mode; click a paragraph or element on the page to format it alone.
   - **Page (▤)** — formats all readable text on the page at once.
   - **Zen (≡)** — opens the formatted text in a focused reading overlay.
3. Use the **strength slider** to tune how many letters are bolded per word.
4. Use **− / +** to scale reading size up or down.
5. Click **Reset (↺)** — which glows red while formatting is active — to restore the original text.

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## Privacy

Bionimate operates entirely on-device. It does not:
- Collect or transmit any browsing data.
- Read page content outside of formatting it locally in your browser.
- Communicate with any external server.

The only data stored is your toolbar preferences (`strength`, `reading size`, `collapsed` state) in `chrome.storage.local`, which never leaves your machine.

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## Installation (Developer / Unpacked)

1. Open Chrome and navigate to `chrome://extensions`.
2. Enable **Developer mode** (top-right toggle).
3. Click **Load unpacked**.
4. Select the `Bionic-reading-chrm` project folder.
5. The Bionimate icon appears in your Chrome toolbar.

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## Known Limitations

- Content scripts cannot run on Chrome internal pages (`chrome://…`), the Chrome Web Store, or PDF files.
- Editable fields, `<code>`, `<pre>`, `<script>`, `<style>`, and the Bionimate toolbar itself are excluded from formatting.
- If a page uses Shadow DOM extensively (e.g. some SPAs), content inside shadow roots may not be reachable.
- Selection mode clears existing formatting before applying to a new selection, t