Read Time plugin for Craft CMS 3

Calculate the estimated read time for content.

Installation

Requirements

This plugin requires Craft CMS 4.0.0, or later.

Plugin Store

Log into your control panel and click on 'Plugin Store'. Search for 'Read Time'.

Composer

1. Open your terminal and go to your Craft project:

cd /path/to/project

2. Then tell Composer to load the plugin:

composer require jalendport/craft-readtime

3. In the Control Panel, go to Settings → Plugins and click the “Install” button for Read Time.

Configuration

The average user read speed is set at 200 words per minute by default, this can be changed in the plugin settings.

Using the Filter

The |readTime filter returns a TimeModel of how long it takes the average user to read the provided content. The value provided can be a string or an array of values.

Seconds are included by default, but can be disabled by using |readTime(false) - this only affects the human time format.

Examples

{{ string|readTime }}

Returns: 30 seconds

{{ richTextField|readTime }}

Returns: 2 minutes, 40 seconds

{{ richTextField|readTime(false) }}

Returns: 3 minutes

Using the Function

The readTime() function returns a TimeModel for matrix fields or the whole entry based on it's field layout.

Seconds are included by default, but can be disabled by adding a second parameter of false - this only affects the human time format.

Examples

{{ readTime(entry) }} or {{ readTime(entry.matrixField.all()) }}

{{ readTime(entry, false) }} or {{ readTime(entry.matrixField.all(), false) }}

TimeModel

Whenever you're dealing with the read time in your template, you're actually working with a TimeModel object.

Simple Output

Outputting a TimeModel object without attaching a property or method will return the time in the form of a human time duration.

{{ string|readTime }}

{{ readTime(entry) }}

{{ readTime(entry.matrixField.all()) }}

Properties

human

The human time duration.

interval(format)

A DateInterval object. You'll need to set the format as a parameter:

{% set time = readTime(entry) %}

{{ time.interval('%h hours, %i minutes, %s seconds') }}

seconds

The total number of seconds.

minutes

The total number of minutes.

hours

The total number of hours.

Overriding Plugin Settings

If you create a config file in your config folder called read-time.php, you can override the plugin’s settings in the Control Panel. Since that config file is fully multi-environment aware, this is a handy way to have different settings across multiple environments.

Here’s what that config file might look like along with a list of all of the possible values you can override.

<?php

return [
    'wordsPerMinute' => 200
];

Roadmap

Some things to do, and ideas for potential features:

Brought to you by Luke Youell