Text-to-speech extensions?

Add-ons for Pale Moon and other applications
General discussion, compatibility, contributed extensions, themes, plugins, and more.

Moderators: FranklinDM, Lootyhoof

User avatar
back2themoon
Moon Magic practitioner
Moon Magic practitioner
Posts: 2373
Joined: 2012-08-19, 20:32

Text-to-speech extensions?

Unread post by back2themoon » 2023-05-13, 12:03

Anyone knows of compatible text-to-speech extensions? Lots of reading online, so trying to ease things for the eyes. I know of various programs you can enter text into, and they'll read it up but if less steps were involved (select + copy-paste text) it'd be nice.

I tried Windows 10's in-built Narrator which looked like a great idea, but it doesn't seem to work with Pale Moon. It only reads the web page title - or maybe I didn't use it properly.

Thanks

User avatar
Kris_88
Keeps coming back
Keeps coming back
Posts: 933
Joined: 2021-01-26, 11:18

Re: Text-to-speech extensions?

Unread post by Kris_88 » 2023-05-13, 13:05

You can try bookmarklets, it reads the selected text. Works on most sites (on which the CSP does not prohibit its operation).

Code: Select all

javascript:(function(){if(speechSynthesis.speaking){speechSynthesis.cancel();};var%20msg=new%20SpeechSynthesisUtterance();msg.text=window.getSelection().toString();speechSynthesis.speak(msg);})();

User avatar
back2themoon
Moon Magic practitioner
Moon Magic practitioner
Posts: 2373
Joined: 2012-08-19, 20:32

Re: Text-to-speech extensions?

Unread post by back2themoon » 2023-05-13, 13:30

Thank you, Kris_88. Good solution, if a bit limited. Found another one here. Seems to rely on Windows installed languages. Has a nice pop-up with playback controls and language selection. Works in FF but not properly in PM. Perhaps I'll open an issue there later.

User avatar
Kris_88
Keeps coming back
Keeps coming back
Posts: 933
Joined: 2021-01-26, 11:18

Re: Text-to-speech extensions?

Unread post by Kris_88 » 2023-05-13, 13:35

back2themoon wrote:
2023-05-13, 13:30
if a bit limited.
What can be done in 5 minutes... I didn't try to make something big and versatile.

User avatar
back2themoon
Moon Magic practitioner
Moon Magic practitioner
Posts: 2373
Joined: 2012-08-19, 20:32

Re: Text-to-speech extensions?

Unread post by back2themoon » 2023-05-13, 13:37

Thanks again. I thought you copy/pasted it from somewhere. :thumbup:

Goodydino
Keeps coming back
Keeps coming back
Posts: 820
Joined: 2017-10-10, 21:20

Re: Text-to-speech extensions?

Unread post by Goodydino » 2023-05-13, 19:04

Kris_88 wrote:
2023-05-13, 13:05
You can try bookmarklets, it reads the selected text. Works on most sites (on which the CSP does not prohibit its operation).

Code: Select all

javascript:(function(){if(speechSynthesis.speaking){speechSynthesis.cancel();};var%20msg=new%20SpeechSynthesisUtterance();msg.text=window.getSelection().toString();speechSynthesis.speak(msg);})();
Interesting. I tried it with 5 browsers. It works with the chromium browsers and with Pale Moon, but not with Safari or SeaMonkey. I wonder why?

User avatar
back2themoon
Moon Magic practitioner
Moon Magic practitioner
Posts: 2373
Joined: 2012-08-19, 20:32

Re: Text-to-speech extensions?

Unread post by back2themoon » 2023-05-13, 19:41

Found some extensions in the Classic Add-ons Archive, searching for speech/text/speak. I'll test them. The one I first tried, "Native text to speech (tts)" works.

User avatar
Kris_88
Keeps coming back
Keeps coming back
Posts: 933
Joined: 2021-01-26, 11:18

Re: Text-to-speech extensions?

Unread post by Kris_88 » 2023-05-13, 21:55

Off-topic:
Goodydino wrote:
2023-05-13, 19:04
It works with the chromium browsers and with Pale Moon, but not with Safari or SeaMonkey. I wonder why?
Web Speech API is disabled in SeaMonkey by default.
in about:config set:
media.webspeech.synth.enabled = true
and restart the browser.

Goodydino
Keeps coming back
Keeps coming back
Posts: 820
Joined: 2017-10-10, 21:20

Re: Text-to-speech extensions?

Unread post by Goodydino » 2023-05-14, 21:41

Thanks. Now the speech synth works with SeaMonkey.

Locked