Phil/Bradley: Please fix Read Aloud function!

Phil/Bradley,

As I spend more time reading in Logos, and as I get older, I'm relying more and more on the Read Aloud function.

But I noticed that as new releases/betas of Logos come out, the quality of the Read Aloud function has continued to deteriorate. It's as if this functionality is not being regression-tested with new releases.

Among the problems that I encounter (just this morning, using Read Aloud on Tim Keller's Center Church, displayed in Reading View F11):

1. Restart after Pause will always start again from the beginning of the displayed portion, rather than resuming where it was paused.

2. The orange locator circle appears in random places, sometimes in the middle of a paragraph, more times not appearing at all. In the former case, the reading voice will also pause at those random places rather than at paragraph ends.

3. The reading will suddenly stop mid-section and not resume at all.

In addition, the following small enhancements could greatly improve the usefulness of the Read Aloud feature (might have been requested by various people over the years)...

4. Allow more speed choices between 1x and 1.4x (e.g. provide 1.2x, or provide a slider).

5. Provide an option to highlight each word or each sentence that's being read aloud... Right now it's really easy to get lost and not know where the narrator is up to.

Can you please prioritize improving the Read Aloud feature as it is much more important to the daily use of the software to many of us than any of the other tools or bells-and-whistles that your team is spending so much time to work on?

Thanks for your kind consideration!

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Comments

Tony Walker

I'll second. I am almost 1/2 through my Mdiv yet reading is one of my biggest struggles. I buy all the books I can in Logos. Besides the obvious reasons, one is so that I can use the reading aloud feature. I read the words and listen as I read. I have noticed similar patterns. Sometimes it will just stop. It would be nice to have something between 1.4 and 2.0 speed. Hitting pause never works since it restarts in the wrong place or not at all. It would also be nice to use (on a Mac) the builtin Siri voice instead of the less natural system voice.

All that aside, I read roughly 10-12 pages an hour if it is something more school related and less devotional. Logos read aloud feature has helped me and I am thankful for it. Whether due to age or disability or anything else, the feature is useful and id love to see even more attention given to it. Thank you Logos for your work.

BUMP for Faithlife's attention and response please.

Keep Smiling 4 Jesus :)

Allow more speed choices between 1x and 1.4x (e.g. provide 1.2x, or provide a slider).

Besides the obvious reasons, one is so that I can use the reading aloud feature. I read the words and listen as I read. I have noticed similar patterns. Sometimes it will just stop. It would be nice to have something between 1.4 and 2.0 speed.

Please vote => Read Aloud Speed Slider Please add comments

Caveat: new feedback currently needs separate login so please vote => Add the feedback website to the Faithlife SSO system that has 28 votes (#1 in Faithlife.com / ChMS feedback board).

It would also be nice to use (on a Mac) the builtin Siri voice instead of the less natural system voice.

Suggest using a macOS High Quality voice other than Siri: e.g. Fiona "English (Scottish Standard English)"

Thread => Bug: 7.13 Beta 1 Read Aloud speed ignores macOS Accessibility Speech preferred speed discussion includes Siri voices not working.

Keep Smiling [:)]

Harry Hahne

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1170236#Comment_1170236

I agree a slider would be very helpful. It is irritating to have to cycle through all of the faster speeds to slow down.

Also, please add another level of slower reading. In addition to .75, it would be very helpful to allow .5 speed, particularly when reading Greek and Hebrew or very complicated books in English.

Matthew Hall

Echoing the frustration and disappointment expressed above.

I'm reading a book and the read aloud insists on starting at the top of the page. I can't even select the paragraph for it start reading on. I'm reading the top half of a page several times. Right now, I'm trying to switch the speed to .75 when I highlight, and then use the back 30 second button to get back to where I am. I should be able to pause it without having to go back to the top of the "page."

John Goodman

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1177736#Comment_1177736

Read aloud is a critical feature for me.