Since the popularity of tablets, and subsequently large-screen smartphones, digital book reading has gone mobile. But, reading on a computer is still a popular past time, and for some, it's the best way to digest the classics, bestsellers, and undiscovered gems. If you have a folder full of eBooks and want to know which reader is perfect for your needs, you'll find what you're looking for right now.
Dec 20, 2017 Windows 10 includes the ability to adjust text size, apps, and other items with a setting. To make text in an individual app easier to see. Browsers, for example, allow temporary or permanent. Sep 19, 2017 The Text Zoom option only increases/decreases the text size in reading pane. This option won't be active if you've turned off the Reading Pane. Let's change font size of the message list following instructions mentioned in the article below and see if it helps. Increase the size of icons and text on the desktop: Control-click the desktop, choose Show View Options, then move the “Icon size” slider to the right.Click the “Text size” pop-up menu, then choose a text size. Increase the size of icons and text in the Finder: Select an item in the Finder, then choose View Show View Options.The view you’re using determines how you increase the size. 15 Ways To Make Text Easier To Read On Your Mac If you ever have trouble reading text on your Mac because it is too small, there are many ways to adjust text in different places to help. You can make a universal change by adjusting your display resolution, use helper features like Accessibility Zoom, or change the display size for text in apps. Oct 02, 2019 Make Apple Watch easier to read with built-in Zoom. If all you want is bigger text in most apps. Just like in iOS and on the Mac.
I'd like to take a moment to clarify that this list is for apps that you can download onto your Mac. There are some great e-readers that are web-based, but I've decided not to include them on this list. If you have a favorite web browser e-reader, please feel free to add it to the comments section so others can find out about it.
iBooks
Every Mac comes with iBooks installed. It is perfectly designed to work, not only on your computer but also across all of your mobile devices. So, you can read a chapter or two on your Mac, and pick up on your iPad or iPhone without missing a beat. There is a quick-access button that lets you browse the iBooks Store, where you can download content to iCloud and access on all your supported Apple devices. You can also drag-and-drop PDFs to iTunes from your Mac, so if you've got a great book that isn't in ePub form, you can still read it in iBooks.
As for the features, iBooks on the Mac has most of the same tools and themes as iBooks on iPhone and iPad, like color options, text size and style customizations, highlighting tools, dictionary lookup, notes, sharing, illustration rendering, voice over, and more.
If you are knee-deep in the Apple ecosystem, iBooks is the best e-reader on your Mac. You'll love the ability to sync your eBooks and audiobooks across all of your devices.
Kindle
Cool app for mac air. The Kindle reader on Mac is ideal for people that purchase, rent or borrow books from Amazon, which supplies the largest digital book collection. When you sign in to your Amazon account, you can access all Amazon books in your library. You can't browse the Amazon books store from the Kindle app, but when you buy a book on Amazon, it will be added to your collection, which you can access from all your devices, whether they are Apple, Android, or Windows. Amazon supports borrowing books, renting textbooks, sampling books, and more. It is especially beneficial to Prime subscribers. Prime reading offers hundreds of free ebooks, magazines, and more. Kindle Unlimited, which is a subscription-based service, lets you read about a million titles (including magazines and newspapers) for a monthly price.
Kindle on the Mac has plenty of customization features, too. You can change the theme to white, sepia, or black, and adjust the font size and style to tailor your reading experience. You can also add highlights and notes. One of my favorite features is the ability to browse through popular highlights from others that have also read the book.
If you have a collection of ebooks you've purchased from Amazon, or if you are a Prime subscriber, use Kindle for the Mac to read and sync your books across all of your devices.
Mac Apps To Make Text On Page Easier To Read Page
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OverDrive Read
OverDrive is the number one app for borrowing digital content from your local public library. All you need is an active library card and a PIN. Just like borrowing physical books, you can browse your library's entire collection of digital content and check out multiple titles at the same time. When you borrow an ebook or another item, you can download it on your Mac and access it as much as you want during your loan period. When your ebook is due, you don't have to worry about returning it to the library on time, it will automatically be removed from your Mac when your time is up.
The OverDrive Read app on Mac is actually a web browser supported software program, but it's on this list because it is the officially supported app for borrowing books from public libraries.
Although you have to access the OverDrive Read on Mac from a web browser, you can download content for offline reading, listening, or watching. You'll need to bookmark the page so you can access it without an internet connection, but if you remember to download the content while you're online, you can continue reading while offline.
OverDrive Read includes tools for changing the color, adjusting the size and style of font, adding notes, highlighting, and voice over for some titles. It also supports fixed-layout digital books (like comics and magazines) so your favorite illustrated content doesn't look weird on your Mac.
If you want to read digital books, but prefer borrowing from your local library, OverDrive Read is your go-to app for accessing your loans on Mac.
Free - Download now
Adobe Digital Editions
Adobe Digital Editions (ADE) is an ePub reader that makes it super easy to read digital books on your Mac without having to drag them into an app or upload them to a cloud server. Once ADE is on your Mac, you can select it as the reader for any ePub file, so you can get started reading right away. I use ADE for ebooks that I get from HumbleBundle. I occasionally use it for ebooks I download from my public library, too. It supports all ePub formats and PDF files.
You can add a bookmark and highlight text. You can also add notes to pages and passages. Searching a book for a specific word or phrase is as easy as using the Find feature on your Mac.
If you download and store a lot of ePub files, and don't want to upload them to iCloud for reading in iBooks, ADE is the next best thing.
Free - Download now
BookReader
BookReader is the e-reader for all files. It supports EPUB, MOBI, PRC, AZW, FB2, Microsoft DOC, RTF, RTFd, xHTML, Webarchive and TXT. No matter what type of ebook you have on file, you can read it on BookReader. It only supports DRM-free files, though, so make sure your digital books don't have digital rights protections before you try to use it.
You can store all of your books in one bookshelf for easy access. It also has a few features that make book reading on the Mac a pleasant experience, like realistic page flipping, hypertext support, Text to Speech, and a fully customizable color option. You can make the font, background, and book border any color available on the spectrum.
If you tend to download a lot of different types of eBook files, you'll be happy with the level of support BookReader has. You can download a free, seven-day trial version to decide whether you want to invest further.
$9.99 - Download now
Your favorites?
Do you use a specific e-reader as your go-to app on Mac? Let us know what it is in the comments and tell us why it's your favorite.
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On Microsoft Edge Chromium, 'immersive reader' is a feature that provides a clutter-free experience to read content online.
When you come across an interesting article online, sometimes, it's difficult to concentrate on the content with all the visual elements, advertisements, and links around the page. The immersive reader is a feature available with the Chromium version of Microsoft Edge, which strips out the distractions and converts the page in an ebook-like experience with better fonts and background allowing you to focus on the main content.
Also, the immersive reader includes settings to customize the experience, and features like read aloud and grammar tools to help improve text comprehension.
In this Windows 10 guide, we'll walk you through the steps to get started with the immersive reader in the Chromium version of Microsoft Edge.
How to enable or disable immersive reader on Microsoft Edge
To enable and disable immersive reader on Edge, use these steps:
Open Microsoft Edge.
Navigate to the website that you want to read.
Click the immersive reader (book and speaker) button.
Source: Windows Central
Quick note: Immersive reader is only available for specific web pages. If you don't see the button in the address bar, the page doesn't support the feature.
Once you complete the steps, the immersive reader feature will remove the clutter and re-format the page using more readable text and background using a warmer color to make it easier on the eyes.
If you want to disable the experience on the page, click the immersive reader button again from the address bar.
How to customize text preference for immersive reader on Microsoft Edge
To customize the text size and background color while viewing a website with the immersive reader, use these steps:
Open Microsoft Edge.
Navigate to the website that you want to read.
Click the immersive reader (book and speaker) button.
Drag the mouse cursor towards the top of the page to reveal the immersive reader toolbar.
Quick tip: You can click the Pin button from the right side to make the toolbar always visible while in the immersive mode.
Click the Text preference button.
Source: Windows Central
Use the Text size slider to make the text on the page smaller or larger.
Use the Page theme option to change the background color. Option available, include White, Sepia (default), Gray, and Dark.
After you complete the steps, pages you open with the experience will use the customization settings that you specified.
Mac Apps To Make Text On Page Easier To Read Text
How to use grammar tools for immersive reader on Microsoft Edge
Grammar tools is a feature designed to help anyone to improve their reading comprehension with tools to separate words into syllables and options to highlight verbs, nouns, and adjectives. However, the tool is still under development, and you have to enable it manually using the hidden advanced settings.
Enabling grammar tools
To enable the grammar tools for the immersive reader before the feature is officially available, use these steps:
Open Microsoft Edge.
Type the following command in the address bar and press Enter:
edge://flags/#edge-reading-view-grammar-tools
Quick tip: Because Microsoft Edge is based on the Chromium engine, you can also use the chrome://flags to open the advanced flags settings page.
Use the Grammar Tools in Reading View menu and select the Enabled option.
Source: Windows Central
Click the Restart button.
Once you complete the steps, you'll find the grammar tools in the toolbar of the immersive reader experience.
Using grammar tools
To get started with grammar tools on Microsoft Edge Chromium, use these steps:
Open Microsoft Edge.
Navigate to the website that you want to read.
Click the immersive reader (book and speaker) button.
Drag the mouse cursor towards the top of the page to reveal the immersive reader toolbar.
Using the Parts of speech options, you can highlight nouns, verbs, and adjectives on a page.
Quick note: At the time of this writing, the 'Parts of speech' option may not work correctly until a later update.
After you complete the steps, you'll be able to use the tools to improve reading comprehension.
How to use read aloud for immersive reader on Microsoft Edge
On Microsoft Edge, read aloud is a simple, but powerful, tool that allows you to use a voice engine to read text aloud using different speeds and voices.
To use read aloud to have the browser read the page content aloud, use these steps:
Open Microsoft Edge.
Navigate to the website that you want to read.
Click the immersive reader (book and speaker) button.
Drag the mouse cursor towards the top of the page to reveal the immersive reader toolbar.
Click the Read aloud button.
Source: Windows Central
Use the controls in the middle of the toolbar to start or pause, and jump to the previous or next paragraph.
Source: Windows Central
Alternatively, you can also activate read aloud by highlighting the text, right-clicking the selection, and using the Read aloud selection option.
While read aloud has been available for a long time, Microsoft has made it significantly better for the Chromium version of Edge by adding new engines to make the voice sound more natural and less robotic.
Customizing read aloud
To customize the read aloud settings on Chromium Edge, use these steps:
Open Microsoft Edge.
Navigate to the website that you want to read.
Click the immersive reader (book and speaker) button.
Drag the mouse cursor towards the top of the page to reveal the immersive reader toolbar.
Use the Speed slider to set the voice speed to Slow, Normal, or Fast.
Source: Windows Central
Use the Choose a voice menu to select the kind of voice (male, female, different accents, etc.) you want to hear.
Once you complete the steps, you'll be able to hear content aloud. This would come in handy as an accessibility feature, help you better understand a piece of content, or catch you up on different topics while you're working in another task.
We're focusing this guide on Windows 10, but the instructions should also work for the version of the browser available on macOS, and older versions of Windows.
More Windows 10 resources
For more helpful articles, coverage, and answers to common questions about Windows 10, visit the following resources:
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