By Marko Dugonjić CHAPTER 9with a few handy formulas. Such numeric values can be used to compare text to
other similar pieces and give us a better understanding about the text.
Article readability stats^39 is a PHP script that calculates various text
properties. It can be easily embedded in your CMS of choice and can there-
fore automatically calculate reading time, automated readability index and
reading ease for every article on a website.
Reading rates range anywhere from under 100 words per minute to
a few thousand. An average adult reads 250 words per minute with 70%
comprehension^40 , so reading time is calculated by dividing the number of
words in the text by 250. Simply throw the content for your project into
a local installation of your favorite CMS and run it through the script to
observe the results based on that average rate. Of course, if the reading rate
for your project is different than 250, use the value that suits your target
audience to asses the text.
From there on, if it seems that the text won’t fit the time format in the ex-
pected context (for instance, a 30-minute train ride), we have a few options:
- Talk to the author and editor to rearrange the text to fit the required
time format. This can be done by shortening the article to fit the format
or by breaking up the article either into sequels or separate smaller
articles that can exist on their own. - Break the main text with subheads and pull-quotes. Remove all expla-
nations and examples from within the text and place them outside of
the main body as side-notes. This way, readers who are familiar with the
topic can quickly run through the article and those who need additional
explanation can use side- and footnotes to learn more. - Provide the reader with navigation aids such as subheads, metadata and
different structures for complementary elements (for instance, lists,
data tables and graphs), so they can get important information fast.
39 http://www.maratz.com/blog/archives/2012/07/26/article-readability-stats-with-php/
40 Smith, Brenda D. “Breaking Through: College Reading”, 7th Ed. Longman, 2004