

Ask HN: How does Medium calculate how long it will take to read a post? - jreed91

Medium and many other sites have a calculation for how long it might take you to read that particular post. How is that calculated and is there a library to add that to any site?
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zachlatta
I'd assume that they're taking a word count and then using a predefined number
of words per minute to figure out approximately how long the article will take
to read.

For example, [https://medium.com/fragmented-
musings/295cc75cd1fd](https://medium.com/fragmented-musings/295cc75cd1fd) has
approximately 600 words and has an approximate reading time of 3 minutes. From
this we can deduce that they're assuming that around 200 words can be read in
a minute. By diving 600 by 200, we arrive at 3.

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jogzden
Most likely.

[http://www.spreeder.com/](http://www.spreeder.com/) says: "To train to read
faster, you must first find your base rate. Your base rate is the speed that
you can read a passage of text with full comprehension. We've defaulted to 300
wpm, showing one word at a time, which is about the average that works best
for our users. Now, read that passage using spreeder at that base rate."

I wouldn't be surprised if Medium is calculating read time the same way. It's
just aesthetically pleasing and somewhat useful.

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danielhellier
Get your articles total word count, and divide by the average word read per
minute.

Here's a WP plugin that does this: [http://codecanyon.net/item/minutes-to-
read/full_screen_previ...](http://codecanyon.net/item/minutes-to-
read/full_screen_preview/6126659)

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kylebragger
I'm guessing simply dividing word count by average words per minute[1]

1\.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Words_per_minute#Reading_and_co...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Words_per_minute#Reading_and_comprehension)

