I'm working on a new website. We're trying to be thoughtful about every feature we add. Asking ourselves do we really need this?
We're currently having a discussion about estimated reading times on articles, and would be interested to hear what everyone has to say?
Some points we're thinking about:
Where does the estimated reading time come from?
If it takes 20 minutes for someone to read an article that we've labelled
5 minute read
how does that make that person feel?Does it put off fast readers?
Should we consider alternatives like: "short read", "long read", "article", "essay", "a couple of paragraphs".
Do interactive elements, infographics, embedded videos or audio make the whole thing redundant?
Is there any evidence to support estimated reading times?
What are your thoughts?