MyPage Text Modifier

This chrome extension allows users with dyslexia to alter text on web pages improve text visibility.

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Inspiration

In grade school and even into college, I have had many friends who have struggled deeply with dyslexia. Especially because so much of todays culture is centered upon reading on electronic devices, it can be very frustrating to stare at a screen, unable to comprehend the words. However, research has been conducted showing that by changing fonts and colors, dyslexic people are able to better comprehend text. That is why we made MyPost.

What it does

MyPost allows the user to select the font, font color, and background color of text on web pages. These changes are then reflected on all of the text on the page. The users' preferences are automatically saved and can be applied across the entire web.

How I built it

MyPost was built using HTML and CSS for the structure and styling, and JavaScript to provide functionality and change the display of text on the page.

Challenges I ran into

The most significant challenge that I encountered was trying to pass a variable from the popup.html file, which is the extension popup that is presented to the user, to the hello.js file, which deals with changing the elements on the page the user is visiting. I eventually solved the problem by using JSON.stringify to create new variables in the other file.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

I am most proud of the fact that I was able to finish this project as a team of 1. I originally started with 4 team members, but around 6 hours in, they all dropped out and refused to work any further on the project. This caused me to work four times as hard to finish the project on time and taught me a lot about how much work it takes one person to create a single chrome extension.

What I learned

Before starting the project, I knew nothing about making chrome extensions and had never seriously used JSON. This project taught me the entire process to create an extension and has given me insight on how many different ways there are to approach JavaScript problems

What's next for MyPage Text Modifier

The next step for my chrome extension would be to publish it to the Chrome Web App Store and listen to the feedback that dyslexic users provide. This would allow me to tailor the extension specifically for the end user.

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