Read Aloud Is Now Site-Wide: Why We Added It

A friend tried the read-aloud button on our practice exams and asked a simple question: “Can you do this for the whole site?”

That question stuck with me.

Today, the answer is yes. Every article and guide on BG7BAG Radio now has a “🔊 Read This Page Aloud” button. Click it, and your browser will read the page to you. Click again to stop.

Why we built this

Some readers find screens hard to use. Others have visual impairments that make reading a wall of text difficult or impossible. Everyone deserves access to the same information.

We started with the exam pages because that’s where the need was most obvious — studying hundreds of questions is tiring even with perfect vision. But the same logic applies everywhere. A guide about getting a SIM card in China, a story about fixing a radio, a manual for a handheld — all of it should be listenable, not just readable.

So we expanded it. The exam pages keep their specialized version (read one question, read all questions, keyboard shortcuts). Articles and guides get a simpler version: read the whole page, stop when you want.

It uses your browser’s built-in speech synthesis. No app to install, no account to create, no cost. It works on desktop and mobile.

Other changes today

While we were at it, we gave the site a refresh:

• New homepage — Cleaner layout, easier to find what you need. China Survival Guides, Exam Prep, Ham Radio Atlas, and Manuals all have their own sections.
• Latest Articles — The homepage now shows the 5 most recent posts, so you can see what’s new at a glance.

Thanks for reading — or listening. If the read-aloud button helps you, or if it breaks on a particular page, let us know via the contact page. We’re still improving it.