Readsy is a free Chrome add-on developed by Ted Johnson that aims to help users read text more easily by highlighting key parts of speech. This innovative tool parses text on webpages to determine the part-of-speech of each word and adds user-directed background highlighting or font color shading based on its classification type.

The main goal of Readsy is to allow users to skim through material faster by emphasizing important parts-of-speech such as nouns, verbs, and adjectives, while de-emphasizing less important parts-of-speech like prepositions and conjunctions. Users have the flexibility to customize which parts-of-speech are highlighted and can also change the color of the highlights to suit their preferences. Additionally, Readsy allows users to save their own color templates for future use.

Unlike other similar tools, Readsy does not run automatically. Instead, it adds a floating button to the browser window in the top left corner. Users can click on this button to execute the part-of-speech parsing, which takes all the text on the page and sends it to an API for analysis. The API then returns a data-object containing each word and its classification. Readsy uses this data-object to encapsulate each text-item with the appropriate classification, enhancing the reading experience.

Overall, Readsy is a valuable tool for those looking to improve their reading efficiency. Its customization options and user-friendly interface make it a convenient choice for anyone wanting to skim through text more effectively.