Google Chrome's reading mode will get a significant upgrade

Your web browser's built-in reading mode helps clean up web pages so you can read articles without any of the annoying ads or pop-ups that pop up if you read a newspaper the normal way. . Although many popular browsers have had this feature for a long time, Google Chrome only recently upgraded this mode. But Google is actively working to bring additional features to the reading mode, and a full voice reading option is in the pipeline for the Chrome browser.

Google Chrome's reading mode will get a significant upgrade Picture 1

As the name suggests, Google Chrome's reading feature reads entire articles, like you're listening to an audiobook, with text-to-speech (TTS) capabilities. Again, some popular browsers and apps like Pocket already have this feature, but Google Chrome is only rolling it out through the Canary channel.

When you open an article in Chrome Canary's reading mode on your computer, you'll see a new option, as discovered by browser expert Leopeva64. You can use this little play button to let the browser read the entire article for you. In the sample video shared by the user, you can hear the sound of a voice reading — and it's not too easy to hear.

Google Chrome's reading mode will get a significant upgrade Picture 2

The voice's volume is as mechanical as it was in the early days of TTS conversion, which is all the more ironic coming from Google which has some of the most natural-sounding voice models on hand. This clearly shows that the read-through feature is in its early stages of development and will take some time before it is ready for official use.

Google Chrome's reading mode will get a significant upgrade Picture 3

In its current state, Chrome's full reading tool looks pretty basic. Other browsers allow you to change the reading speed, skip to the next part of the article and even change the voice. For example, Microsoft Edge has a long list of more natural voices in English and other regional languages. However, these options are not currently available in Chrome Canary, which prevents Google from releasing a full-featured read-through version with the stable version later.

Considering Google's excellent ability to provide natural TTS voices in many languages, the built-in read-through feature will certainly be more capable and useful for users. However, while Google still has a lot of work to do, you can use a Chrome browser extension to add full readability.

Jessica Tanner

Update 30 October 2023