• Added a help panel (💡 button) with step-by-step instructions for getting more voices in Chrome
• Explains how to install Windows language packs, natural voices, and use internet-connected voices
• Warns when Google network voices aren't detected (possible connectivity issue)

• Top 10 premium voices now appear in a dedicated "Recommended" group at the top of the voice selector
• Makes it easy to find the best available voices without scrolling

• Search now matches quality terms: "premium", "neural", "online", "offline", "google", "microsoft"
• Each voice shows its quality label (Neural, Premium, Online, Good, Basic)
• Cloud voices are indicated with ☁ icon
• Voice count displayed in the selector label and dropdown header

• Chrome Voice Loading: Added polling mechanism (up to 2s) to reliably load voices in Chrome popups where getVoices() initially returns empty
• Network Voice Capture: Delayed check (3s) ensures Google cloud voices that load after local voices are properly captured
• Content Script Reliability: Voice loading in content scripts now uses both voiceschanged event AND polling as dual-strategy fallback
• Better Voice Scoring: Google network voices (localService === false) receive a +50 quality score boost; Google-branded voices get +45
• Low-Quality Voice Detection: eSpeak/MBROLA voices are penalized in scoring to avoid poor defaults
• Few Voices Warning: Shows an alert when fewer than 5 voices are detected with guidance on how to add more
• Voice Type Legend: Added legend showing ⚡ Premium, ☁ Online, 💾 Offline indicators

• Wider popup: Increased from 320px to 380px for better readability and less cramped voice selection
• Card elevation: Settings card now has subtle shadow depth for better visual hierarchy
• Custom scrollbars: Both light and dark themes have refined thin scrollbars; voice dropdown has its own styled scrollbar
• Shimmer loading state: Voice loading skeleton uses a smooth shimmer animation instead of basic pulse
• Voice legend redesign: Color dots instead of emojis for a cleaner, more professional look
• Font smoothing: Added antialiasing for sharper text rendering
• Taller dropdown menu: Voice list shows more options (340px) with smooth scroll behavior
• Compact voice options: Reduced option padding for denser voice lists with quality labels

• useVoices hook now returns hasNetworkVoices and loadAttempts for better state awareness
• voiceScoring.ts exports new getVoiceQualityLabel() and getVoiceSearchTags() utilities
• ensureVoicesLoaded() in content script uses race-condition-safe dual resolution strategy
• Voice selector uses custom MenuList component showing voice count in d

🎉 [1.0.4] - Enhanced UI & Smart Features - 2026-05-19

✨ New Features

🎯 Word Highlighting

• Real-time word highlighting as text is being read
• Smooth animations that follow the speech progress
• Visual feedback to keep you focused on the reading flow

👁️ Follow Highlight

• Auto-scroll feature that keeps the highlighted word in view
• Perfect for reading long articles without manual scrolling
• Toggle on/off based on your preference

📖 Smart Read

• Instantly detect and read full articles with one click
• Intelligent content detection filters out ads, navigation, and clutter
• Convenient floating button appears on article pages

🌍 Auto Language Detection

• Automatically selects the best voice based on page language
• Supports 7 languages with premium voice quality
• Smart voice scoring for natural-sounding speech

🔧 Improvements & Fixes

• Pause/Resume Enhancement: Fixed long pause timeout issue—now restarts seamlessly from the exact position
• Memory Optimization: Resolved memory leaks in pause/resume functionality
• Better Performance: Cleaned up background processes for smoother operation
• UI Polish: Improved button animations and positioning
• Component Consistency: Unified utility classes across popup components for cleaner maintainability
• Voice Selector Enhancement: Improved UI with better grouping and responsive design

🛠️ Technical Updates

• Streamlined message passing between components for better reliability
• Enhanced cleanup processes to prevent resource leaks
• Added optimized select component for voice selection
• Standardized interactive button utilities for consistent behavior across UI
• TypeScript and type safety improvements

📦 Dependencies

• React 18.3.1
• TypeScript 5.5.3
• Vite 5.4.21
• Tailwind CSS 3.4.4

🌐 Browser Support

• Chrome 109+
• Edge 109+
• Firefox 79+

feat: enhance voice selector with react-select

• Replace native select with react-select for better UX
• Add real-time search by voice name, language, and country
• Fix flag emoji rendering in Edge browser
• Add CSS variables for consistent theming
• Optimize performance with useCallback/useMemo
• Add proper TypeScript types for all components
• Preserve all existing features (recent voices, premium indicators)

🎉 Version 1.0.2 - Enhanced Reading Experience
✨ New Features
🎯 Word Highlighting

Real-time word highlighting as text is being read
Smooth animations that follow the speech progress
Visual feedback to keep you focused on the reading flow
👁️ Follow Highlight

Auto-scroll feature that keeps the highlighted word in view
Perfect for reading long articles without manual scrolling
Toggle on/off based on your preference
📖 Smart Read

Instantly detect and read full articles with one click
Intelligent content detection filters out ads, navigation, and clutter
Convenient floating button appears on article pages
🌍 Auto Language Detection

Automatically selects the best voice based on page language
Supports 7 languages with premium voice quality
Smart voice scoring for natural-sounding speech
🔧 Improvements & Fixes
Pause/Resume Enhancement: Fixed long pause timeout issue - now restarts seamlessly from the exact position
Memory Optimization: Resolved memory leaks in pause/resume functionality
Better Performance: Cleaned up background processes for smoother operation
UI Polish: Improved button animations and positioning
🛠️ Technical Updates
Streamlined message passing between components
Enhanced cleanup processes to prevent resource leaks

✅ Implemented

✅ Smart language detection (30+ languages)
✅ Premium voice selection with quality scoring
✅ Floating player with drag & mini mode
✅ Reading queue system
✅ Multi-language interface (7 languages)
✅ Collapsible settings sections
✅ First-run welcome guide
✅ Speed presets & custom controls
✅ Progress tracking & time estimates