Adding Reading Time Estimation to Article by CSGoat0 · Pull Request #47392 · joomla/joomla-cms

CSGoat0 · 2026-03-14T17:01:34Z

Pull Request resolves # .

I read the Generative AI policy and my contribution is either not created with the help of AI or is compatible with the policy and GNU/GPL 2 or later.

Summary of Changes

This PR adds a new Content - Time Estimation Plugin that automatically calculates and displays the estimated reading time for articles.

Key Features:

Displays a reading time badge (with clock icon) below the article title
Shows both estimated minutes and word count
Admin can configure words per minute in plugin parameters (default: 50)
Works out-of-the-box with Cassiopeia template — no template override needed
Uses two Joomla events:
- onContentPrepare – counts words while article text is raw HTML
- onContentAfterTitle – injects the badge into afterDisplayTitle template slot

Admin Configuration:

Words per minute setting (default: 50) – adjustable based on audience reading speed

Testing Instructions

Download and install the plugin from this PR
Enable the plugin in Extensions → Plugins (search "Content - Time Estimation")
Configure (optional):
- Go to the plugin parameters
- Adjust "Words per minute" value (default is 50)
View any article on the frontend of your site
Verify that a reading time badge appears below the article title showing:
- Estimated minutes (e.g., "3 min read")
- Word count (e.g., "(150 words)")

Actual result BEFORE applying this Pull Request

Articles do not display estimated reading time. Users have no way to know how long an article will take to read without manually scanning the content.

Expected result AFTER applying this Pull Request

Each article displays a clean reading time badge below its title showing:

Estimated reading time based on word count and configurable words-per-minute setting
Total word count
The badge appears automatically in the afterDisplayTitle position without requiring template overrides.

Notes for Reviewers

AI Assistance: I used AI to help generate the initial metadata structure and code comments. I am happy to adjust anything if there are concerns about style, accuracy, or compliance.
Language Files Location: I followed the plugin development documentation which states that language files should be inside the plugin folder. This works correctly in my testing. I noticed that many existing plugins don't follow this structure, but when I tried to place language files elsewhere, it didn't work. If the preferred location is different, please let me know and I'll be happy to adjust.
Default WPM: Set to 50 as a conservative baseline, but fully configurable by admins.

Screenshots

Admin Configuration - Words Per Minute Setting

Admin can set the reading speed (default: 50 WPM)

Frontend Display - Reading Time Badge

Badge appears automatically below the article title showing minutes and word count

Link to documentations

Please select:

Documentation link for guide.joomla.org:
No documentation changes for guide.joomla.org needed
Pull Request link for manual.joomla.org:
No documentation changes for manual.joomla.org needed

1. Removes the need for a seperate rtl css stylesheet 2. Stops reversing the hours/minutes cell

--------- Co-authored-by: Harald Leithner <leithner@itronic.at> Co-authored-by: Stefan Wendhausen <stefan.wendhausen@tec-promotion.de>

Signed-off-by: BrianTeeman <brian@teeman.net>

This template allows users to submit detailed bug reports, including contact details, expected outcomes, software version, browser information, relevant logs, and agreement to the Code of Conduct.

Updated the bug report template to improve clarity and streamline the information requested.

Changed the default version from 5.4 to 0 in the bug report template.

Fix typo in expected result description.

Updated the accessibility issue template to YAML format with structured fields for better reporting.

…e-chooser [5.4] Maintenance Task: Disable blank issue template

…ly build commands (joomla#47390)

brianteeman · 2026-03-14T17:59:46Z

You are trying to merge a pull requests from your branch which is joomla 5.4 into 6.2. that's why you have so many changes

Please note that it is expected that you have actually tested to see if the code you are proposing works!!

HermanPeeren · 2026-03-14T17:40:05Z

plugins/content/timeestimation/language/en-GB/plg_content_timeestimation.sys.ini

+; Plugin metadata (shown in Extensions Manager)
+PLG_CONTENT_TIMEESTIMATION="Content - Time Estimation"
+PLG_CONTENT_TIMEESTIMATION_DESCRIPTION="Displays an estimated reading time before each article, based on a configurable words-per-minute reading speed."
+


The sys.ini file only contains language strings for when the plugin is not yet loaded. So the strings under this line are not necessary in this file.

You are right, I just followed the Plugins structure, they mostly contained those 2 files with duplicates so didn't give it much time to think.
I will remove those strings.

HermanPeeren · 2026-03-14T17:41:02Z

plugins/content/timeestimation/services/provider.php

+use Joomla\CMS\Plugin\PluginHelper;
+use Joomla\DI\Container;
+use Joomla\DI\ServiceProviderInterface;
+use Joomla\Event\DispatcherInterface;


Put use clauses in alphabetical order.

HermanPeeren · 2026-03-14T17:43:25Z

plugins/content/timeestimation/src/Extension/Timeestimation.php

+    /**
+     * Map Joomla events → listener methods.
+     *
+     * @return  array


AFAIK the @since tag is obligated in Joomla core docblocks.

HermanPeeren · 2026-03-14T17:55:26Z

plugins/content/timeestimation/src/Extension/Timeestimation.php

+        $minLabel = $minutes === 1 ? 'min read' : 'mins read';
+
+        return '<div class="reading-time-badge">'
+             . '<span>&#128337; <strong>' . $minutes . '</strong> ' . $minLabel . '</span>'


Isn't this too much inline styling?

do you suggest removing them to a temp file?

HermanPeeren · 2026-03-14T17:58:54Z

plugins/content/timeestimation/timeestimation.xml

+                    type="text"
+                    label="PLG_CONTENT_TIMEESTIMATION_WPM_LABEL"
+                    description="PLG_CONTENT_TIMEESTIMATION_WPM_DESC"
+                    default="200"


Why do you have a default of 200 here and a (fallback) default in the plugin of 50? I'd expect them both the same, a reasonable default.

Please close #47391 (refering to this new PR).

Why do you have a default of 200 here and a (fallback) default in the plugin of 50? I'd expect them both the same, a reasonable default.

Thank you for catching that, I intended to set the default to 200. I thought this would be so fast then changed to 50 and tested. Everything worked fine, I have missed that one.
I will handle it.

HermanPeeren · 2026-03-14T18:48:42Z

plugins/content/timeestimation/src/Extension/Timeestimation.php

+    {
+        $text = strip_tags($html);
+        $text = html_entity_decode($text, ENT_QUOTES, 'UTF-8');
+        $text = preg_replace('/\s+/', ' ', trim($text));


Why this line? A word in str_word_count() is any sequence of alphabetic characters, so multiple whitespace characters are ignored.

Hackwar · 2026-03-14T19:31:33Z

The team decided to discuss this further, thus I'm opening it back up again.

CSGoat0 · 2026-03-14T19:48:02Z

You are trying to merge a pull requests from your branch which is joomla 5.4 into 6.2. that's why you have so many changes

Please note that it is expected that you have actually tested to see if the code you are proposing works!!

It works perfectly! I have tested it.
I only let Ai to write me some comments, I have read them and I appreciate any adjustments to it or if I am missing something.

CSGoat0 · 2026-03-14T19:50:42Z

The team decided to discuss this further, thus I'm opening it back up again.

Great, thank you!
I hope my contributions would be helpful.

brianteeman · 2026-03-14T20:03:01Z

Developing a plugin for including in the core is not the same as a standalone extension.

It can't work as you are missing the SQL to install the plugin on new sites and the SQL to install the plugin on upgraded sites.

The language files should be moved where all the other plugin language files are eg administrator/languages/en-gb

Your test instructions to "download and install" are not possible which you would know if you tried to follow the instructions.

Finally you need to fix your branch as already explained

I am sorry but I do not believe your statement that you only used ai to write the comments

CSGoat0 · 2026-03-14T20:24:30Z

Developing a plugin for including in the core is not the same as a standalone extension.

It can't work as you are missing the SQL to install the plugin on new sites and the SQL to install the plugin on upgraded sites.

The language files should be moved where all the other plugin language files are eg administrator/languages/en-gb

Your test instructions to "download and install" are not possible which you would know if you tried to follow the instructions.

Finally you need to fix your branch as already explained

I am sorry but I do not believe your statement that you only used ai to write the comments

You can see in my pr that I have mentioned that I have tried to add the language files with the others and it didn't work.
And I have stated carefully that the developer documentation suggests the structure that I have used in this plugin meanwhile looking at the structure of other plugins, I have noticed that they doesn't follow the structure used in the documentation. I also requested a feedback on that so I can fix it.
Thank you for the feedback.

you can find that part under: Notes for Reviewers

About trusting me, don't worry, I know that you might be saying that because you have suffered from vipe coding, well me too.
I know that pain and I won't cause it to you if that's what you mean.

The task from GSOC was also all by myself; I have discussed it and if that was an AI they would have known as I literally used another approach that I have found in the documentation. That's why I have a good understanding of the plugins.
I truly appreciate your feedback. Thank you!

brianteeman · 2026-03-14T20:37:34Z

Sorry not wasting my time any more. You're not reading

CSGoat0 · 2026-03-14T20:44:24Z

Sorry not wasting my time any more. You're not reading

You said that if I read the instructions I wouldn't add the language file in the plugin. I was just explaining that I added that and said in the pr it might be wrong as it goes against the other plugins and I requested a feedback on that from someone with a better understanding as I am new.

Didn't mean that you didn't just explain that, I have read and understood you comment and thanked you for the feedback on lang files (that I requesting in the pr already).

Anyways, I appreciate your time.
Thanks again.

brianteeman · 2026-03-14T21:06:55Z

You said that if I read the instructions I wouldn't add the language file in the plugin

Nowhere did I say that

CSGoat0 · 2026-03-14T21:16:45Z

Your test instructions to "download and install" are not possible which you would know if you tried to follow the instructions.

This line I was referring to, that's why I sometimes refine my comments to give only the meaning I want, of course if you didn't mean that.
Anyways, it doesn't matter. Can we pass that?
I will be happy if we can focus more on friendly constructive feedback that can really help me go advanced in Joomla.

brianteeman · 2026-03-14T21:26:12Z

I've already given you feedback,you just chose to ignore it.

CSGoat0 · 2026-03-14T21:33:44Z

I've already given you feedback,you just chose to ignore it.

My bad, I am sorry.
I am currently working to solve those conflicts and to add the adjustments
mentioned by Mr HermanPeeren.

I will be reaching out soon to understand how to can I fix this: "It can't work as you are missing the SQL to install the plugin on new sites and the SQL to install the plugin on upgraded sites."
Thank you for your time!

brianteeman · 2026-03-14T22:17:19Z

https://wordsrated.com/reading-speed-statistics/
https://scholarwithin.com/average-reading-speed?

brianteeman · 2026-03-14T23:10:30Z

To get a better understanding of what the sql looks like etc when adding a new plugin to Joomla take a look at https://github.com/joomla/joomla-cms/pull/46514/changes

richard67 · 2026-03-14T23:12:55Z

@CSGoat0 It makes no sense to try to do e the conflicts in this PR. It will not work as you have made this PR here with a branch which is based in the 5.4-dev branch, it you propose the PR for the 6.0-dev branch. This cannot work and cannot be fixed. Please make a new PR based on the 6.2-dev branch. Thanks in advance.

bembelimen and others added 30 commits February 18, 2026 20:59

[5.4] Update PR template to link issue automatically (joomla#46835)

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[5.4] RTL Calendar fixes (joomla#46910)

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1. Removes the need for a seperate rtl css stylesheet 2. Stops reversing the hours/minutes cell

[5.4] Enhance PR template with AI policy (joomla#46917)

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[5.4] Update browserlist 2026-02-17 (joomla#46906)

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[5.4] Add publishing checks to banner item retrieval (joomla#46881)

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--------- Co-authored-by: Harald Leithner <leithner@itronic.at> Co-authored-by: Stefan Wendhausen <stefan.wendhausen@tec-promotion.de>

[5.4] Translation Update (joomla#47198)

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[5.4] Translation Update (joomla#47201)

4034ade

[5.4] Expose filename on autoupdate prepare step (joomla#46929)

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[5.4] Translation Update (joomla#47222)

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[5.4] README.md – Remove duplicate empty line (joomla#47235)

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[5.4] Choices selected checkmark background (joomla#47226)

31bdbbb

Signed-off-by: BrianTeeman <brian@teeman.net>

Add bug report issue template

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This template allows users to submit detailed bug reports, including contact details, expected outcomes, software version, browser information, relevant logs, and agreement to the Code of Conduct.

Revise bug report template for better user guidance

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Updated the bug report template to improve clarity and streamline the information requested.

Update default version in bug.yml template

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Changed the default version from 5.4 to 0 in the bug report template.

Correct expected result field description

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…e-chooser [5.4] Maintenance Task: Disable blank issue template

[5.4] Fix comment typo in merge-conflicts.yml (joomla#47286)

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richard67 and others added 2 commits March 14, 2026 14:14

[5.4] Use "DRONE_BRANCH" instead of "MINORVERSION" variable for night…

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…ly build commands (joomla#47390)

Adding reading time estimation to Article

f00a901

CSGoat0 requested review from Hackwar, chmst and rdeutz as code owners March 14, 2026 17:01

joomla-cms-bot added NPM Resource Changed This Pull Request can't be tested by Patchtester PR-6.2-dev Unit/System Tests labels Mar 14, 2026

CSGoat0 marked this pull request as draft March 14, 2026 17:07

HermanPeeren reviewed Mar 14, 2026

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Hackwar closed this Mar 14, 2026

Hackwar reopened this Mar 14, 2026

CSGoat0 mentioned this pull request Mar 14, 2026

Adding reading time estimation to Article #47391

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CSGoat0 commented Mar 14, 2026

Summary of Changes

Testing Instructions

Actual result BEFORE applying this Pull Request

Expected result AFTER applying this Pull Request

Notes for Reviewers

Screenshots

Link to documentations

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