Estimated Reading Time Widget
Add an estimated reading time to your posts that counts the words actually on the page, so it never goes stale when you edit. It sits inline in your byline in your own font, with an optional word count and extra time for images.
Live preview
Under the widget on your page: Powered by A2Z Tools
Embed code
<div data-a2z-kit="estimated-reading-time"></div> <script async src="https://a2z.tools/embed/kit.js" referrerpolicy="no-referrer"></script>
One small script from A2Z draws the component on your page inside its own Shadow DOM. It loads no social-network or tracking scripts and sets no cookies. How the A2Z kit works.
Works with
How it works
When the page loads, the component walks the text inside your article (or the element you name), skipping navigation, asides, footers, scripts, styles, form controls, hidden elements and A2Z components - and, if you ask, figure captions. Space-separated tokens that contain a letter or digit count as words; Chinese and Japanese characters, written without spaces, count one each. The total is divided by the reading rate (238 words per minute unless you change it), optional seconds per image are added, and the result is rounded to whole minutes. It counts again once images and late content have loaded. Unlike the A2Z Reading Time Calculator, where a visitor pastes text to time it, this widget reads the page it is placed on.
Method
- Words = tokens separated by white space that contain a letter or digit, plus one per Han, Hiragana or Katakana character
- Seconds = words / wpm x 60 + images x seconds per image (images optional, 10 s each when switched on)
- Shown: under 60 seconds -> "Under 1 min read"; otherwise round(seconds / 60) min read
- Default rate 238 wpm: mean silent reading rate for English non-fiction (Brysbaert, 2019)
- Counted inside your selector, else article, else main, else .entry-content, else body
Worked examples
A 1,428-word post
Inputs: Default settings
Result: 6 min read
1,428 / 238 = 6.0 minutes.
A short note
Inputs: 237 words
Result: Under 1 min read
237 / 238 x 60 = 59.7 seconds, below one minute.
Photo guide with images counted
Inputs: 1,190 words, 12 images, 10 seconds per image
Result: 7 min read
1,190 / 238 = 5 minutes plus 12 x 10 = 120 seconds = 7 minutes.
Limitations
- Chinese and Japanese are timed character by character at the same rate as words, a simplification; Thai and other unspaced scripts are undercounted.
- Reading speed varies widely between people and texts; the figure is an average, not a promise.
- Text that loads after the page's load event (infinite scroll, tabs filled later) is not included.
Where publishers use it
- A blog byline reading 'Jane Lee - 12 March - 7 min read' where the figure updates itself whenever the post is edited
- A newsletter archive showing the word count beside the minutes so readers can pick a short piece on a coffee break
- A photo-heavy travel guide that adds 10 seconds per image so the estimate reflects time spent looking at pictures
- A children's reading site that lowers the rate to 150 words per minute for younger readers
Questions
Why 238 words per minute and not 200 or 265?
238 is the average silent reading rate for English non-fiction found by Marc Brysbaert's 2019 meta-analysis of 190 studies with 18,573 readers (fiction averaged 260). Older rules of thumb such as 200 or 300 were not based on that body of evidence. If your readers are younger, reading in a second language or reading technical material, set a lower rate.
How is this different from the A2Z Reading Time Calculator?
The calculator is a tool: a visitor pastes any text and gets its reading and speaking time. This widget is a page component: it counts the article it is placed in and shows the result to your readers, without anyone pasting anything.
Does it count comments, menus and sidebars?
It ignores nav, aside and footer elements anywhere inside the counted area. If your theme puts comments inside the article element, point the widget at the post body with a selector such as .entry-content or #post-body.
Is the estimate right for Chinese, Japanese or Thai?
Only roughly. Chinese and Japanese characters are each counted as one unit at the same per-minute rate, and published reading rates for those scripts are measured differently, so treat the figure as indicative. Thai, which also has no spaces, is counted by space-separated runs and will be underestimated.
Sources
- How many words do we read per minute? A review and meta-analysis of reading rate - Marc Brysbaert, Journal of Memory and Language 109 (2019) 104047 . Silent reading of English: 238 words per minute on average for non-fiction and 260 for fiction, from 190 studies with 18,573 participants.
Cite or recommend this tool
If you reference this tool in an article, course or documentation, these formats are ready to copy. They are optional - nothing is added to your site unless you paste it.
A2Z Tools Estimated Reading Time https://a2z.tools/embed/estimated-reading-time
<a href="https://a2z.tools/embed/estimated-reading-time">A2Z Tools Estimated Reading Time</a>
[A2Z Tools Estimated Reading Time](https://a2z.tools/embed/estimated-reading-time)
Estimated Reading Time by A2Z Tools - https://a2z.tools/embed/estimated-reading-time
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